Excel File

The Target Type = Excel File export enables you to export the data as an Excel file, while the Excel File (Answer Codes as Labels) export gives you the additional option of including the answer codes as labels with the export. This export gives an additional export property that, in the event the survey is multilingual, allows you to select the language to be used.

Note: When Source is Survey Data and multiple projects are selected, for xlsx files the data is exported to separate files for each project.

Note: Some of the options are only available when the project includes loops.

Figure 1 - The Target tab when Excel is selected

If you have selected to export to Excel File or Excel File (Answer Codes as Labels) in stage 1 of the dialog - , the properties and options available on the tab are as follows:

• Excel version - select the version of the Excel file to which the data is to be transferred. Microsoft Excel 97-2003 and Microsoft Excel (xlsx) are supported.
• Loop Handling -specify how loops are to be handled for the export. The options are:
• Separate files - the default export format for loops creates one export file for each loop, and one export file for the top level. In the files containing the loop data there will be one row per loop iteration per respondent, so there will be several rows for each respondent. Each row will have the responseid (system generated respondent id) of the respondent and the code of the loop id for the iteration as identifiers, and then the answers for the questions inside the loop for that specific iteration for that respondent. This means you can export a hierarchical project directly to SPSS without having to generate a flattened template.
• Single file - Instead of exporting loop data as separate files, you can export all data belonging to a project in one single file. Loop data will then be expanded. This means that variables will be created to represent each iteration of each question.
• Position of Loop Variables - only available when Single file is selected in the Loop Handling option. This allows the user to specify in which position the loop variables should be exported. The options are:
• Appended at end - the loop variables are appended at the end of the template.
• As in Questionnaire - the loop variables are positioned as the corresponding loop was placed in the questionnaire.
• Locale – specify the area or country in which the data in the file is to be used. This will allow the system to format fields such as date fields according to local standards.

Note: The Locale setting here must match the setting made on the Source tab (go to Delimited Text File for more information).

• Truncate Open Ends - when exporting data to Excel, system performance is heavily affected by the number of “unlimited width” text fields in the exports (i.e. Open Text fields with no field width settings). For Open Text questions with no field width specified, you are recommended to truncate texts to improve performance. If a number of characters is specified for the Open Ends Width, any texts longer than this limit will automatically be truncated. If No Truncation (Full Length) is selected, the whole text will be imported/exported, but the task will take significantly longer to execute.
• File transfer - export files can either be sent by email or placed on an FTP server. FTP is the recommended option for large volumes of data, since emails with large attachments may be blocked. FTP can allow automation of data flows, since files can then be picked up automatically by another system/process. Note that your company must license the FTP add-on for this option to be available (refer to the Professional Authoring documentation for more information).

• Encrypt file - data transfer encryption functionality makes it possible to perform secure data exports from Forsta Plus. The encrypted files can then be either ordered by email or sent to the FTP server for downloading. The users will have to decrypt the files using their private PGP encryption keys. Note that your company must license the Data Transfer Encryption add-on for this option to be available.
• Email Address – if Email is selected in File Transfer, add to this field the email address to which the file is to be sent. Default is the user's (your) registered email address.
• Override Email Options - when selected, allows you to override the standard export email options and customize both the subject and the email that will be sent to the export recipient. Checking this box displays a number of additional options.
• Override Filename - allows you to override the system-generated name. Tick this check-box to open the file name text-box. Here you can edit the system-generated name. Note that when exporting Survey Data to the FTP server in Survey Data > Exports or Data Processing rules, the Override Filename option accepts relative paths, as for example “..\..\myftpfile_in_another_folder.txt”. In this case the file will not be stored in the default folder (“ProjectsData\p123123” or “RulesData\RuleN”), but rather directly under the (Company) Download folder.

Note: The Filename template must contain the '_^PROJECTID^_' part of the name as this will be replaced by the real project id during rule execution.

Note: When exporting to Microsoft Excel 97-2003, the column header text will be truncated to 64 characters. Note that this limitation does not exist in the Microsoft Excel 2007 or Delimited Text File export, which can be used instead. The text file output can then be opened and processed as required in Excel.

• Export language - [Excel File (Answer Codes as Labels) only] this field is active when Include Labels is checked. In the event the survey is multi-lingual, select the survey language version to be exported.

Note: Microsoft Excel 2007 cannot be imported. Only single files can be imported.