HMAG60855 - Excise Movement and Control System: EMCS searches: downloading search results

Search results can be downloaded to a comma separated variable (CSV) file that can be viewed in excel. A dialogue box appears on screen asking whether you want to ‘open’, ‘save’ or ‘cancel’. If the open option is selected, you can also save the information within a spreadsheet. If the save option is selected, you must define the location where the data is to be saved.

One of the implications of saving the data as a CSV file is that when the software finds a comma, it puts the next block of data into the next field, which appears in a column. This might need fixing by you depending on the data analysis to be performed.

Example

ARC, Consignee, Date

11GB123456718910111213141, J Smith, & Sons, 20/11/2011 will appear in a CSV file as:

ARC	Consignee	Date
11GB123456718910111213141	J Smith & Sons	20/11/2011

Whilst UK names tend not to have commas in such positions, other MS may have additional columns for some records. You may need to manipulate the data for this reason. A simple answer is to place the cursor on the field where the split data is (ie in this example ‘& Sons, select the ‘edit’ function on the toolbar, select ‘delete’ then select “shift cells left” which moves 20/11/2011 into the cell where ‘& Sons’ was previously shown. If there are many instances of this, you may wish to sort or filter the data first.