Extraction problem

USA
1

Hello everyone,
i try to extract some data and it does something weird: it writes that the predicted file size is 700 MB which makes sense, but then when i extract i get less than a 100MB empty file.

  • i made sure im on “rectangular”

is there anyone who knows what is the problem?

2

Thanks for messaging to let me know that you were able to get your extract to work.

As a reference for anyone else who might have this issue, our data extracts are by default compressed (*.dat.gz) files. Users need to decompress or unzip them before using them. We have noticed that operating system updates for Windows and Macs occasionally result in changes to the default decompression tools that cause unexpected behavior when decompressing/unzipping the .gz files. For this reason, we recommend 7zip as a free decompression software for Windows and The Unarchiver for Macs. These instructions explain how to input the decompressed .dat file into one of our supported stats packages. We also offer accompanying video tutorials that demonstrate this process.

Alternatively, it’s possible to request a data extract that’s formatted as a Stata, SAS, or SPSS file (available in the Extract Options menu before submitting the file for processing). The file will still need to be decompressed, but can then be opened directly into one of these stats packages.

3

Hello, I have been trying to extract data as a CSV file on my PC, using 7-zip as recommended. My colleague who is using a Mac is able to open the file in Excel with no problems, but on my computer it looks like every row in the dataset is being extracted as a separate file (186,582 separate files in fact - see attached screenshot). Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

IPUMS - data extraction failure
IPUMS - data extraction failure645×738 5.32 KB

4

Thanks for your message. Something about the latest Windows update seems to have caused occasional issues with decompressing .gz files. We recommend 7zip for decompressing .gz files on Windows machines. If after redownloading the file and decompressing it with 7zip you are still running into issues, please follow up!

5

Thanks! I was using 7zip, but redownloading was the key. All good now. Thanks!

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