Resolve Data Import Issues By Formatting Your Excel Workbook
Symptoms/Issues
Imported Excel Data Does Not Match Data Source
Imported Data is missing characters or entries
Imported Data includes extra information
Imported Data is not formatted correctly
Possible Causes
Excel saves formatting codes, formulas and macros along with the data. When it is being imported these non-text items may not be removed or converted to text causing a failure to import or import correctly.
The data is alphanumeric - the cells contain both letters, numbers and/or non-numeric characters ( # $ % - / ) .
The Excel file contains date codes, formulas or macros in the file.
Excel Import Date Includes Time - column formatted as Date not Text
Your first row includes just F1, F2, F3, etc.
Resolutions
A.) If your first row contains Column Headers and some of them contain just "F1", "F2", etc., change those headers to either add more data (for example: "F1 Barcode", "F2 Destination") or remove the F# designation all together. This is because if you do not use Column Headers, Brady Workstation identifies each column as F1, F2, F3, etc. This is Microsoft Excel functionality, it is not limited to Brady software. If you do actually use Column Headers "F1", F2", etc, your Brady Workstation app will give you an "Unknown Event" error and the following error will appear in the Brady Workstation.log file: "An error occurred while parsing Excel data. System.Data.DuplicateNameException: A column named 'F1' already belongs to this DataTable." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B.) Formatting oddities are removed by converting the Excel spreadsheet to a Tab Delimited TEXT file. This cleans the data of all formatting oddities. This Text data can then be re-imported into a blank Excel workbook.
Note: Menu options may vary depending on your Microsoft Office version. If certain settings are missing, continue the general process to import the data as text into a new document.
Converting Files to Text (written instructions)
Note: Menu options may vary depending on your Microsoft Office version. If certain settings are missing, continue the general process to import the data as text into a new document.
1. Save the Excel spreadsheet as Text (Tab Delimited).
2. Create a new blank workbook in Excel.
3. Select Data > Get External Data > From Text.
4. Browse to your text file and select it.
5. Select Delimited, Start Import at row 1 and Windows (ANSI), click Next.
Note: These options may vary depending on your Microsoft Office version.
6. Select the Tab Delimiter and click Next.
7. Select each column and select format as text.
8. Once all columns are converted select Finish.
9. Select all rows and columns that contain data.
10. Click on Page Layout > Print Area > Set Print Area.
11. Save the new spreadsheet this file should now import without problems.
Configuring New Excel Files to Avoid Formatting Issues
This process creates a new Excel workbook without any extraneous formatting. You can also download and use the attached Excel spreadsheet, which has already been formatted using this process.
1. Before entering any data, select all cells by clicking in the very top, left cell (to the left of Column A and above row 1).
Note: See the attached sample spreadsheet.
2. Then open the Format menu and select "Cells".
3. In the "Format Cells" menu, click on the "Number" tab.
4. Choose "Text" from the list. 5. Now click "OK". 6. Save the Excel workbook.
Note: If these steps do not resolve the issue, check to make sure your formatting problem is not caused by a configuration in the label template. If you have undesired formatting such as font, spacing, repeat to fill (wiremark mode), or other alignment options configured when creating the label in Custom Designer, you will need to change these settings by opening the template in Custom Designer: Imported Text Data is Small and Vertical in Print Partner
