MapInfo Products KnowledgeBase

Product: MapInfo Professional
Version: 8.0
Platform: Citrix; Windows 2003 Server Enterprise; Windows 98 SE; Windows NT 4.0 SP6A; Windows XP Home; Windows XP Home SP1A; Windows XP Home SP2; Windows XP Professional; Windows XP Professional SP 1A; Windows XP Professional SP 2; Windows 2000 Professional SP4
Category: Table Operations

Summary:
Option to save as native to allow data editing when opening files (MapInfo Professional v8.0).

Question:
Option to save as native to allow data editing when opening files (MapInfo Professional v8.0).

Answer:

Formerly, when comma delimited, Lotus 1-2-3, ASCII, and Excel files were opened in MapInfo Professional, they were read-only. To edit these files, it would be necessary to have to save a copy of the file to the native .tab format. New to MapInfo Professional v8.0 is an option to do this automatically when opening these types of tables. This should simplify the process of opening and working with files of these types.

To see this enhancement:

1. From the File menu, click Open to display the Open dialog box.

2. In the Files of type drop-down list, select Microsoft Excel (*.xls), Delimited ASCII (*.txt), Lotus 1-2-3 (*.wk1, *.wks, *.wk3, *.wk4), or Comma Delimited CSV (*.csv) to display the list of available files of these types only.

Figure: Open (with Create copy in MapInfo format for read/write)



3. Select a file from the list and select the Create copy in MapInfo format for read/write to open it in native (.tab) format.

Note: If the Create copy... checkbox is not selected, the file opens read-only as before.

4. Click Open to open the file.

CAUTION: Keep in mind that these new files will not be updated with any edits made to the original tables. The reverse is also true. While these tables can be edited in MapInfo Professional, the changes will not be reflected in the original data. When opening these files in this manner, they are no longer linked to the original tables.

Last Modified:
Document URL: http://testdrive.mapinfo.com/techsupp/miprod.nsf/kbase_by_product/651741F68181F6A785257028007504E1

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