DAT-daddy to parse by ¶ and þ in Excel

ENF Discovery has a great add-in for Excel that can help you parse out fields in Concordance .dat load files. Concordance load files use pilcrows (¶) and thorns (þ) to separate out different metadata fields. The pilcrow designates a column; thorn a quotation mark; and ® a new line.

It can be tricky to separate the fields in the .dat file into separate columns in an Excel workbook. DAT-daddy does the work for you. It installs as an add-in for Excel. A new tab will be created in the menu. DAT-daddy lets you customize the delimiters.

The numerous fields of the .dat file are effortlessly separated into new columns.

Converting from EDRM XML to Lexis .dat / .csv Format

As noted in the Tip of the Night for May 28, 2015, the EDRM recommends the use of an XML standard load file. While we're waiting for the entire electronic discovery world to adopt the EDRM XML files, it may still be necessary to convert these files to the .dat or .csv format used by databases like Lexis Concordance.

A sample of the EDRM xml loan file is posted here. As noted here, the Lexis load file is a simple load file with delimiters such as a pipe |. One might feel somewhat hesitant about using an online converter, like this one from Cool Utils. Instead try the Advance XML Converter available here.

If we start with an .xml file like this one:

. . . using Advanced XML Converter we can go to File . . . Convert files from folder. . . and select one or multiple .xml files to merge and convert them into .csv, .xls, .html; .sql; or .dbf files.

The end result will have the data separated with delimiters that can then easily be analyzed in Excel.