How To

Work With Data

Some pages (mainly in the Regional section) are in a "comma separated values" format and can be conveniently viewed in a popular application. Here are some tips on how to do this:

a) To View the Data in a Microsoft Word Table

With the desired file open on screen, highlight the relevant text or click Edit : Select All or use Ctrl+A on the keyboard
Then Copy and Paste it into Ms Word, and save
With exactly the desired text highlighted, click Table : Convert Text to Table : Commas : OK

Word's sort facility can now be used, but be careful because Word does not like dates in the 1800s :-(

b) To View the Data in a Spreadsheet

With the desired file open on screen, highlight the relevant text or click Edit : Select All or use Ctrl+A on the keyboard
Then Copy and Paste it into a word processor, remove any headings, and save as xxxx.csv
It will now open in Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheets.

Spreadsheets also have limited sort facilities.

c) To View the Data in a Database

The preferred way is to use a database. A database is designed for exactly this kind of work.

(These instructions are for Microsoft Access. Other databases may be similar)

With the desired file open on screen, highlight the relevant text or click Edit : Select All or use Ctrl+A on the keyboard
Then Copy and Paste it into a word processor, remove any headings and save as xxxx.txt
Open Ms Access and create a new database
Click File : Get External Data : Import
In the Import window, click on Files of Type: and choose Text Files
Find xxxx.txt and click Import
Select Delimited and click Next
Select Comma and put a tick in First Row Contains Field Names
Click Next, choose In a New Table, click Next
For the Year column, select Long Integer as the Data Type
Click on the headings for all the other columns and change the Data Type to Text for all of them. Click Next
Choose an option, click Next
Accept the Table name or choose another
Click Finish

The list can now be easily filtered, sorted and searched :-)