How to import CSV files into Excel?

Get more efficient in the handling of your quantitative outputs by learning how to import CSV format data into Excel.

The IKOSA Platform cumulates quantitative results data in a CSV format, since CSV files offer more flexibility than conventional XLS file formats. These files can be later transferred to different table calculation programs like Excel. Yet, you need to convert CSV files into formats native to the spreadsheet program before you can perform actual calculations on them. 

In this article, you will learn what CSV files are and how you can easily import CSV data into an Excel worksheet to be able to proceed with your analysis. 

What to expect from this page?

What is the difference between CSV and XLS file formats?

CSV format is short for the Comma Separated Values format. This is a plain text format used in order to exchange data between different applications. CSV files use a delimiter, e.g. a comma sign, to separate data values. CSV data can be easily viewed with a text editor program like Notepad.

Spreadsheet programs like Excel operate with a different type of data format known as XLS format. XLS is a binary file format where each worksheet contains information on both content and formatting. 

CSV files offer many advantages as compared to XLS files. CSV files can be opened with different statistical software packages and databases like SQL, Excel, Oracle, Access, SPSS, R etc. Unlike in Excel, there is no limit to the number of rows and columns that can be included in a CSV file. This is very convenient, especially if you have a large dataset with a large number of images and annotations. Yet, there are a couple of things to consider, if you want to open a CSV file with a spreadsheet program.

This is what happens if you open a CSV file directly in Excel.

If you open a CSV file in Excel directly, the data will not appear in a usable format. The values will be separated by commas and will not be properly distributed across the columns of your Excel sheet.

Downloading the results of your analysis

When your analysis job in IKOSA is completed, this will be indicated in the “Finished Jobs” tab in the “Analysis Jobs” section. By clicking on the “Download” button at the bottom right corner, you can download the output of your results in a CSV file format. 

Download the results output of your analysis in a CSV format

There are several options to download the output of your results from the IKOSA Platform. Learn more about these options in our article How-to deploy and use a trained application? (see table of contents: Step 3 - Download your results)

Upon downloading the data, you will get an email notification with your results. This might take up to several minutes. Click on the “Download results” button or on the download link in the email notification to save your results locally.

Importing CSV files into Excel

In order to perform analyses on your data in Excel, you have to import the CSV file. To do this you can follow a small number of steps in Excel. What these steps are mainly depends on your current regional format settings in your operating system. We have prepared a quick overview how to do this for a number of Excel versions and different language settings of your operating system.

 

 

 

  • German language operating system settings


You have done a great job transforming your results data into the desired format. Now you are set up for performing statistical analysis on your data.

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If you have any questions, please send us an email at support@ikosa.ai.


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