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I want to open spss .sav data files in Excel without opening the spss files (I don't want to convert spss data file into Excel file). I know this is possible using OLDB connection, but I don't know how to do this.

Tomerikoo
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Rama Moorthy
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7 Answers7

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I converted sav to csv online: http://pspp.benpfaff.org/

DKB at NYU
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    This is perfect for me. I want to analyse in R but there is a never a good way to view the labels. Especially the dictionary output is great! – Bastiaan Quast Dec 21 '15 at 08:11
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In order to download that driver you must have a license to SPSS. For those who do not, there is an open source tool that is very much like SPSS and will allow you to import SAV files and export them to CSV.

Here's the software

And here are the steps to export the data.

Ameet Wadhwani
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(Not exactly an answer for you, since do you want avoid opening the files, but maybe this helps others).

I have been using the open source GNU PSPP package to convert the sav tile to csv. You can download the Windows version at least from SourceForge [1]. Once you have the software, you can convert sav file to csv with following command line:

pspp-convert <input.sav> <output.csv>

[1] http://sourceforge.net/projects/pspp4windows/files/?source=navbar

Juha Palomäki
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  • Tried but does not work. I tried "pspp-convert quicksave foo", "pspp-convert quicksave foo -O csv", "pspp-convert quicksave.sav foo.csv", "pspp-convert quicksave.sav foo -O csv". Always gives me an error like "quicksave : no such file directory" or "quicksave.sav is not a system file or a portable file" or "foo : cannnot guess output format" – Flyout91 Mar 10 '18 at 12:46
  • Thank you. Very fast. I tried the steps as described in the answer by Ameet but this (a GUI-equivalent) did not complete for some reason. – kometen Jul 23 '18 at 08:36
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    Thank you very much for this helpful answer! To add, you can use chocolatey on Windows to instantly install PSPP: `choco install pspp` – aaronsteers Feb 25 '20 at 19:10
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I help develop the Colectica for Excel addin, which opens SPSS and Stata data files in Excel. This does not require ODBC configuration; it reads the file and then inserts the data and metadata into your worksheet.

The addin is downloadable from http://www.colectica.com/software/colecticaforexcel

Jeremy
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You can do it via ODBC. The steps to do it:

  1. Install IBM SPSS Statistics Data File Driver. Standalone Driver is enough.
  2. Create DNS via ODBC manager.
  3. Use the data importer in Excel via ODBC by selecting created DNS.
djhurio
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3

You can use online converter, developed by me at N'counter.

This is the easiest way to open SPSS file in Excel.

1) You just have to upload your file to SPSS coN'verter at https://secure.ncounter.de/SpssConverter

2) Select some options

3) And your converted Excel file will be downloaded

No information about your file contents is retained on our server. The file travels to our server, is converted in-memory, and is immediately discarded: We don't peer into your data at any time!

Lion HC
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    OP specifically said they don't want to convert it into an excel file – Nick is tired Dec 01 '17 at 19:36
  • @NickA, did you read other answers? Frankly, it looks like suppression. IMHO there are no way to open and work with SPSS file directly from Excel. Each resolution means some kind of convertion spss file data into Excel native format. – Lion HC Dec 02 '17 at 09:39
  • no I didn't read them, your answer came up in review, so I reviewed it, nothing more – Nick is tired Dec 02 '17 at 18:14
  • Does not work. I tried to convert a .sav file but i get "We're very sorry we could not convert the file". – Flyout91 Mar 10 '18 at 12:56
  • That was particular case related to the browser you have used. Now this bug is fixed and you can try again. Sorry for inconvenience. – Lion HC Mar 11 '18 at 18:35
  • This works perfectly! My file came out exactly as I needed it and give me both the var name and label which was the piece I needed the most! – Rachel Cyr Aug 10 '21 at 17:49
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I tried the below and it worked well,

Install Dimensions Data Model and OLE DB Access

and follow the below steps in excel

Data->Get External Data ->From Other sources -> From Data Connection Wizard -> Other/Advanced-> SPSS MR DM-2 OLE DB Provider-> Metadata type as SPSS File(SAV)-> SPSS data file in Metadata Location->Finish

Rama Moorthy
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