Excel 2013 and ArcGIS 10.2 Free Trial

[JodieParkes1]

Hi all,

I am having a few issues with importing a 2013 excel spreadsheet to ArcGIS Desktop 10.2 (free trial). I have added the spreadsheet through 'Add data' and then referred to the Table of Contents (list by source) and navigated to 'Display XY Data...'

I have filled in the X and Y fields and chosen the relevant coordinate system. When the new layer appears I have right clicked to export the data to a shapefile however it does not allow me and states that 'there was an error exporting the layer'.

Has anybody got any suggestions?

I have amended the excel sheet to be values only (instead of drop down boxes etc.) but cant think why else this error keeps occurring!

All comments welcome

[DanPatterson_Retired]

no blank rows? all numeric for the coordinate fields?  If unprojected they are in decimal degrees? columns formatted explicitly in excel?  is the file a *.xls or a *.xlsx format?  copy and paste a few rows if all looks well to you

[JodieParkes1]

There are some empty columns yes. Do I need to fill them with something such as 'no data'? All numeric for the coordinate fields yes, it contains both eastings and northing as well as long/lat. How do I format explicitly? I did have drop down boxes etc. originally so tried copying and pasting the spreadsheet as values only. It is in .xlsx format - is that OK?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

I don't use excel for data transfer, however,

ON A COPY of the file in Excel

1  try deleting all blank columns and rows

2  to format columns right-click on the column name and format to number there...numbers should be right-justified by default

3  you should be copying values only...I don't know how arc* handles columns that show the result of formulae

In ArcMap

1  only add the data to a new data frame to rule out any projection on the fly issues with other layers

2  If you used long/lat you specified a geographic coordinate (aka unprojected) of the appropriate type

3  ditto for UTM (aka projected).

[JodieParkes1]

Hmm I seem to be incurring the same types of problem.

I have done a quick find and replace to fill any blank cells with 'NO DATA' and have formatted the spreadsheet to number and right-justified.

This is the first error that appears after clicking OK on the 'Display XY Data...' window:

Any further suggestions?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

That isn't a problem...it is a warning!  Simply right-click on the layer (it is an 'event layer') and go to Data, Export Data and save it either as a shapefile (my preference) or into a geodatabase

[JodieParkes1]

Yep saved it as a layer file and when the new layer appears I have right clicked to export the data to a shapefile however it does not allow me and states that 'there was an error exporting the layer'.

I'm not sure why it's happening but I have decided to create a new feature class and import data from XY Table instead. Seems to have done the trick!

Now I am going to have a play with GISconnector for Excel, have you ever used this software?

[DanPatterson_Retired]

No...I don't use Excel...I use Quattro when forced to use spreadsheets, which is rarely