How do I export search results to Excel?

Question

In FileLocator Pro when I export search results to the clipboard in CSV format and then paste into Excel it looks like only the file name is exported. However, exporting in Text format seems to work, is this a bug?

Answer 1

The CSV format is quite different from the Text and Tab format, since CSV is designed to be more spread sheet like.

To view the CSV data properly in Excel you need to export to a file and open the file in Excel, rather than pasting from the clipboard. If you paste directly into Excel you'll get the data pasted into a single column. However, if you open an exported CSV file in Excel you’ll get the information in columns, e.g.

Path, Filename, Size, Type, Modified date, Created date, Last accessed, Hit Count, Line number, Line text

Each line of text includes all the file name information for easier sorting and manipulation (you can leave the file name out by unchecking the File name check box in the Export options).

The Tab and Text format, however, produce output more similar to that displayed in the Hits tab, ie a single line for the file and then all the lines of text separately grouped underneath.

Note: In FileLocator Pro 6.5 you'll be able to Export to a Tab separated spread sheet format, similar to the CSV format, which is much better for pasting into Excel.