Text-based spreadsheet files are a subset of text files. To write data to a spreadsheet file, you must format string data as a spreadsheet string, which is a string that includes delimiters, such as tabs.

The following VI writes different data types to a text file. The Write to Text File function writes a header containing string data and delimiters. The Format Into File function formats timestamp data, numeric data, and delimiters into a spreadsheet string and writes the string to the file.

Use the Write Delimited Spreadsheet VI or the Array To Spreadsheet String function to convert a set of numbers from a graph, a chart, or an acquisition into a spreadsheet string.

Note For Microsoft Excel files (. xlsx, use the Write to Measurement File Express VI to save the dynamic data you acquire to an Excel file.

The following VI acquires data from a graph and writes it to a spreadsheet file.

Reading text from a word processing application might result in errors because word processing applications format text with different fonts, colors, styles, and sizes that the File I/O VIs cannot process.

If you want to write numbers and text to a spreadsheet or word processing application, use the String functions and the Array functions to format the data and to combine the strings. Then write the data to a file.