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Bulk Download: How to extract and view data in Excel?

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The IMF Datasets contain detailed and comprehensive information on financial and economic statistics which translate into a bulk download data file with millions of data points.  Therefore, our bulk download data files are not advised to be consumed by Microsoft Excel, as Excel has a maximum data viewing parameter of 1,048,576 rows by 16,384 columns.

However, if one desires to open a bulk download data file in Excel, we advise users to follow the options below to be able to extract and view the maximum number of data points in Excel.

1) Download the data in time series format, which reduces the file size and makes it easier for Excel to consume the data file.

2) Breakdown the size of the bulk download data file by selecting a desired subset of countries and/or indicators.

NOTE: For best practices, users are advised to use a specialized data management software capable of handling large datasets to open a bulk download data file.  We are not in a position to advise on which software users should use, but Open Office or Power-Pivot Excel add-ins are some examples.  






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