I'm new. My first extract was not the simple text file I had hoped for. Is there a way to get a simple text file?

I’m new. My first extract was not the simple text file I had hoped for. Is there a way to get a simple text file?

It looks like you are using IPUMS USA. If I am mistaken, please correct me. In the IPUMS extract system, once you select the samples and variables you’d like to include in your extract, you can submit your extract. (See this video tutorial about using the extract system.) The default setting is for the extract to provide a fixed width text file (.dat file) and a command file associated with your either SPSS, SAS, Stata, or R. Once the .dat file is downloaded and decompressed it is a plain text file. Additional video tutorials are available here. Let us know if you have any additional questions.