Customizing the ASCII Import Options

Specify whether to add the sparklines for the imported data.

• Do not add sparklines for the imported data.
• Always add sparklines for the imported data.
• If the imported data are less than 50 columns, add sparklines.

This setting determines where the imported data are added:

• Replace Existing Data
• Start New Books
• Start New Sheets
• Start New Columns
• Start New Rows

During importing data, a template can be used. You can type a template in this field or click the browse button to select one. This is only available when Import Mode is Start New Books or Start New Sheets.

ASCII Data Structures are of two types:

• files in which data columns are delimited by a character (typically a comma, tab or white space).

• files of fixed column width.

Origin can usually "guess" the correct data structure when importing simple ASCII files, but may have difficulty with some files. When files are not correctly imported, you may be able to overcome the problem by specifying that the data file columns are either delimited or fixed width.

If you know that you are working with a delimited file, select Delimited from the Data Structure drop-down list, then choose a delimiting character from the Delimiter drop-down list.

If you select Unknown, Origin will search your file, looking for something resembling a repeating delimiter.

If you have selected Other from the Delimiter drop-down list, use the Other Delimiter box to type the delimiting character; such as ':' or '/'.

Specify unknown delimiters other than comma, tab, space and semicolon. It is only available when the Delimiter is selected as Unknown or Data Structure is Fixed column widths.

For a fixed column file, set Data Structure to Fixed Column Widths and specify the width in the Column Widths field. Note that you can specify varying column widths by separating each with a comma. If the number of data columns exceeds the number of column width values, Origin uses the last value to set the width for all remaining columns. If you enter a single width value, Origin sets all columns to that width.

Numeric separators vary by language. Origin normally uses the decimal and grouping separators specified in your Windows Regional settings. Use this drop-down list to specify an alternate scheme to use when importing your simple ASCII files into the active workbook.

Select a date format from the drop-down list, or type in a custom date format string. For more details, please see the Custom Date Format page.

Select a time format from the drop-down list, or type a custom time format string.

Specify n number of columns for import. If the file you are importing contains more than n columns, only the first n columns are imported. If the file contains less than n columns, the entire file is imported without creating additional (empty) worksheet columns.

When 0 is selected from the list, Origin imports all columns in the file.

When this checkbox is selected, Origin automatically determines whether each column contains text or numeric data and sets each worksheet column's Format accordingly.

When the check box is cleared, Origin retains the Format settings of the target worksheet columns. In this case, the input format should be consistent with the worksheet column format to avoid data loss.

Specify l for the minimum number of consistent lines to determine data structure. When l lines are found to have the same structure, this structure will be used as the data structure for the whole file.

Some files -- particularly those generated by lab instrumentation -- will have, at the top of the file, some header information that typically identifies the instrument, the operator, the date, the sample number, etc. These are the main header lines. You can use this list to specify where your main header lines are.

Header lines typically are not structured in the same way as the data.

This control is available only when Auto Determine Subheader Lines checkbox is cleared.

Select this checkbox if you want Origin to determine the number of main header and sub header lines automatically.

Subheader lines are typically structured the same way as the data.

Clear this checkbox if you want to specify these two values by yourself.

Select this checkbox, then the line numbers for Short Names, Long Names, Units, Comments From/to, System Parameters From/To, User Parameters From/To will be the numbers counted upwardly from the bottom of subheader sections.

Clear this checkbox, if those line numbers are counted from the top.

This control is available only when Auto Determine Subheader Lines checkbox are cleared.

You can use this list to specify the number of subheader lines of your file.

Specify which line of the ASCII file header to use for the worksheet row heading.

Specify <none> to leave a row heading empty.

If it is checked, Origin will use the default settings to rename the worksheet and workbook name, which is:

• Use the whole filename (includes the file extension) as worksheet name.

• Use the whole filename (includes the file extension) as workbook name if current workbook is empty or the import mode is Replace Existing Data.

Renames the target worksheet with the file name. If a sheet of the specified name already exists, a number is appended to the sheet name. This checkbox is available only when the Auto Rename Using File Name checkbox is selected.

Use these two text boxes to specify the part of filename that is used to rename the worksheet.

Renames the target workbook with the file name. This checkbox is available only when the Auto Rename Using File Name checkbox is unchecked.

Use these two text boxes to specify the part of filename that is used to rename the workbook.

Check this to rename the Long Name for workbook only.

When this is checked, the import file path is appended to the workbook name.

Appends filename to the workbook's comment.

Appends filename to the worksheet's Comments header row. If the Comments row is hidden, it will be shown automatically.

When this is checked, the import file path is included with the file name.

Select this checkbox to enable partial import.

Only available when the Partial Import checkbox is selected. Enter two column numbers to specify the column range for partial import.

Only available when the Partial Import checkbox is selected. Enter two row numbers to specify the row range for partial import.

This works with Skip Data Rows. When you specify a number l for Read rows and a number k for Skip Data Rows, l rows are imported and k rows are skipped for every l+k rows.

Only available when Read Rows is not 0. Please see Read Rows for more explanation.

It is only available when the Partial Import checkbox is selected. Specify the end row for partial import.

Specify the text qualifier.

• There is no qualifier used.
• The qualifier is ".
• The qualifier is '.

Select the box to remove quotes upon file import.

Removes zeros from zero-padded data (data with leading zeros).

The When Non-numeric is Found in Numeric Field list selection controls how Origin proceeds if non-numeric information is encountered in a numeric column below the header lines. Select an option from the associated drop-down list:

• Terminate Import
• Read as Text
• Start New Worksheet
• Start New Column

Specify whether allow to import all text data.

Specify whether to keep target column format.

Specify whether to save the file information to the workbook, which can be seen from the Workbook Organizer. Storing the file information requires extra time. So, you may consider clearing this option to improve the importing speed when importing multiple files.