Preparation of tabular data

The data tables are very frequenti found ats formshow quantitative data is storede Data. When preparing tabular data for long-term storage, it is important to consider more us aspects.

Recommended at

• Give each column a descriptive heading

• Use one (not more) row for column headings

• Save each file with a name that accurately reflects its contents

• Save each table that is part of the dataset as a separate file

• Save each spreadsheet as a separate file (if the data was collected in a software like Microsoft Excel u.etc..)

• Files containing tables should preferably be saved in CSV, TSV, TAB or TXT format

Not recommended

• Insert charts, comments or tables in a spreadsheet

• Use colour coding as it cannot be interpreted by machine data mining

• Include special (i.e. non-alphanumeric) characters in the spreadsheet

• Use fused cells (English: merged cells)

• Place multiple spreadsheets in the same file (e.g. in Microsoft Excel), as CSV and TAB formats do not support it