# not Stata format (tried with Stata 12.1)

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/not-stata-format-tried-with-stata-12-1/1158>\
**Category:** INTERNATIONAL\
**Created:** [January 2, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/not-stata-format-tried-with-stata-12-1/1158 "2016-01-02T14:09:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Imelda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7ea924/32.png) [@Imelda](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Imelda)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2016, 2:09pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/not-stata-format-tried-with-stata-12-1/1158/1 "2016-01-02T14:09:00Z")

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Hello,

I have been using Indonesian Census data before and there was no problem when I downloaded up to three years of Census data. Now, I selected all the sample (1971-2010) = 9 years = 10.98Gb Stata data file. It is .dta file. I am trying to open it with my Stata 12.1 (iMac) but it keeps saying:

file ~/Downloads/ipumsi\_00009.dta not Stata format

r(610);

Really hope for some clue here. Many many thanks. Imelda

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**Author:** ![Tim\_Moreland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f1d935/32.png) [@Tim\_Moreland](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Tim_Moreland)\
**Post date:** [January 5, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/not-stata-format-tried-with-stata-12-1/1158/2 "2016-01-05T19:18:00Z")

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Formatted IPUMS extracts are designed for later versions of Stata. You have a couple options. First, there is a Stata package called [use13](http://radyakin.org/transfer/use13/use13.htm) that you can download within Stata. This will allow you to import Stata 13 files into Stata 12. Second, you can download the text-version of your data extract, along with the generated Stata command file, and use this instead of the formatted .dta file.

Hope this helps.