Import Explorer for tables

GUI for readtable and datastore. Select / sort table variables and their data types. Read from multiple tabular text or Excel files at once.
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Updated 21 Jul 2021

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Editor's Note: This file was selected as MATLAB Central Pick of the Week

Read data from one or multiple files (.xls, .xlsx, .csv, .txt) or spreadsheet lists containing tables with the same format and variable names. Interactively select and sort variables and their respective data types to import before reading data into the workspace.
  • select and sort variables
  • de/select multiple variables at once with mouse, Ctrl, Shift and using context menu in the Selected Variables Column
  • choose data types of the selected variables
  • confirm selections and preview
  • read data from selected variables into the table array
Export "import options" to reuse with a new data of the same format when you read data from one file only. Variable with "Import options" can be used as a second argument when calling the function readtable - this syntax is described in the documentation:
When reading from multiple tabular text files (.csv, .txt), you can use the same conversion specifiers that the textscan function accepts for the formatSpec argument:
Import options are automatically detected from your data. However, you can customize some of these options before reading the data into the workspace. For example, you can change "DataRange", "Sheet", "ImportErrorRule" and "MissingRule" if you read data from a single Excel file.

Cite As

Jan Studnicka (2024). Import Explorer for tables (https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/92468-import-explorer-for-tables), MATLAB Central File Exchange. Retrieved .

MATLAB Release Compatibility
Created with R2021a
Compatible with any release
Platform Compatibility
Windows macOS Linux

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Version Published Release Notes
4.3

- Fixed bug preventing to set numerical property inside "Customize Options" dialog.

4.2

- Clicking on "multiple files / lists" button and selecting only one file now uses datastore instead of readtable. This can be used to read tables with the same format from multiple spreadsheet lists in one Excel file.
- bug fixes

4.1

Added:
- more options to customize under the "Customize options (Advanced)" button

4.0

New:
- customize selected options before reading data into the workspace.

3.2

Bug fix:
- "default" didn't work on Selected Data Types when multiple files selected

Improvement:
- when preview ends with error, you can de/select variables end try to preview again

3.1

Bug fix:
- right click on "Confirm" button and selecting "default" didn't change "Selected Data Types" column into the default state

3.0

- import multiple tabular text files (.csv, .txt)

2.4

Fixed:
- bug with missing "datetime" data type

2.3

- names checking before reading into the workspace variables
- added icon

2.2

- de/select multiple variables at once with mouse, Ctrl, Shift and using context menu in the Selected Variables Column
- description updated

2.1

- About button
- error in case no variable is selected
- progress bar
- Export to workspace renamed to Read to workspace
- Update and preview renamed to Confirm selections and preview
- after changing selections you must confirm them before reading

2.0.1

- fixed a bug that prevented data import

2.0

Added:
- possibility to sort variables

Improved:
- user interface updated
- better selection of variables

1.1

Bug Fixes

1.0