How do I read exported data files?

Stemble simulations generally output comma separated values, or csv files

The comma-separated values (or csv) file is a common file type for data in which the comma character (,) typically separates each field of text. These can be easily opened in any spreadsheet program.

Excel

1. Go to File > Open and browse to the location that contains the text file.

2. Select Text Files in the file type dropdown list in the Open dialog box.

3. Locate and double-click the text file that you want to open.

   • If the file is a .csv file, Excel automatically opens the text file and displays the data in a new workbook.

Additional instructions can be found here.

Google Sheets

1. On your computer, open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
2. Open or create a sheet.
3. At the top, click File  Import.
4. Choose your csv file
5. Select an import option. Not all file types have all six options:
   • Create new spreadsheet: Create a spreadsheet from the imported data in a new browser tab.
   • Insert new sheets: Adds new sheets with the imported data to your existing spreadsheet.
   • Replace spreadsheet: Replace the open spreadsheet with the data in your imported file.
   • Replace current sheet: Replace the current sheet’s contents with the imported data.
   • Append rows to current sheet: Adds the imported data to the current sheet after the last row with any data.
   • Replace data starting at selected cell: Replace the data in a range of selected cells with the imported data.
6. Optional: If you import a plain text file, like .csv, under "Separator character," you can pick what letter or symbol Google Sheets uses to separate cells.
   • Detect automatically: This will automatically find ways to split your data set. For example, it can detect fixed-width-formatted files.
   • Tab
   • Comma
   • Custom: Choose a custom character to split your data. 
7. Click Import.

Additional instructions can be found here.

Numbers

1. Drag the file to the Numbers icon in the Dock or in the Applications folder.

2. Click anywhere in the table to select it.

3. In the Format  sidebar, click the Table tab, then click Adjust Import Settings.

4. Click the Delimited tab in the Import Settings window.

5. Select the comma delimiter option next to Separate Values Using.

6. Do any of the following:

   • Add text qualifiers: A text qualifier indicates where text begins and ends. Click the Text Qualifier pop-up menu and choose a character.

   • Encode text: Click the Text Encoding pop-up menu and choose an option.

   • Ignore duplicate delimiters: Select “Treat consecutive delimiters as one.”

   • Transpose rows and columns: To transpose, or switch, rows and columns in your table when you import, select “Transpose rows and columns.”

7. Click Update Table.

Additional instructions can be found here.