Gamry Instruments’ .DTA File Type

The data stored in a .DTA file are raw data, and are not corrected for surface area.

Pt	Data point number, starting with point 0 (not point 1)
T	Time since the start of the experiment
Vf	Measured cell voltage
Im	Measured cell current
Vu	Uncompensated voltage
Sig	Voltage from the signal generator entering the current amplifier
Ach	Voltage measured using the A/D input
IERange	Which current range was used for measurement
Over	A code indicating various kinds of error conditions

Copy and Paste Method in Echem Analyst™

You can copy and paste a section or entire results sheet from Echem Analyst.

The Copy to Clipboard button (see left) is on the toolbar of the tab showing the graph when your data file is displayed in Echem Analyst. 

This button gives you the choice to copy a Bitmap, Metafile, or raw data directly to the Windows^® Clipboard. You can then paste the data into any other program. The Copy to Clipboard button opens a drop-down menu of choices (Fig. 1).

Figure 1. Copy to Clipboard drop-down menu.

• The As a Bitmap option copies the data as displayed in Echem Analyst, meaning that the data will be a replica of the current view of the data complete with any overlays, fits, or modifications of the visual style of the plot.
• Using the As Text (data only) button copies the x and y values of the currently displayed data, fits, and overlays as a table that you can directly paste into a cell-based spreadsheet application. By overlaying multiple data files you can use the Copy As Text feature to batch-export a number of data files all at once.

You can copy data to the clipboard from any of the Analysis tabs (e.g., Fig. 2) that are created when a fit is performed. Click in the cell (or click and drag to highlight multiple cells; see Fig. 3), then right-click and select Copy. You can now paste the data into any cell-based spreadsheet program.

Figure 2. A typical Analysis tab with data created after a fit of a model.

Figure 3. Data in the Analysis tab are selected, with a small menu that appears with choices to right-click.

Directly Opening the File in Your Spreadsheet

Many customers extract their .DTA data via the copy-and-paste method described above. But there is another possibility: directly opening the .DTA file in your spreadsheet program. We sometimes find that opening a .DTA file in Excel^® or another program works more reliably than copying and pasting.

For example, Fig. 4 is a .DTA file for an EIS experiment opened directly in Excel^®:

Figure 4. EIS file in .DTA format opened directly in the Excel® spreadsheet program.

 

Conclusion

The .DTA file type for Gamry Instruments’ software does not have to be treated as a mysterious black box. To transfer your data to other programs, you can simply select, copy, and paste; or you can open the file in your spreadsheet application.

Application Note Rev. 1.1 - 1/11/2019© Copyright 2018 Gamry Instruments, Inc.  Framework and Echem Analyst are trademarks of Gamry Instruments, Inc. Excel^® and Windows^® are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.