# Trouble with downloading and extracting IPUMS data in STATA

**URL:** <https://forum.ipums.org/t/trouble-with-downloading-and-extracting-ipums-data-in-stata/5189>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [March 23, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/trouble-with-downloading-and-extracting-ipums-data-in-stata/5189 "2023-03-23T12:42:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Carolina\_Leroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Carolina\_Leroy](https://forum.ipums.org/u/Carolina_Leroy)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2023, 12:42pm UTC](https://forum.ipums.org/t/trouble-with-downloading-and-extracting-ipums-data-in-stata/5189/1 "2023-03-23T12:42:19Z")

</div>

I am having trouble to extract and then use the data I have downloaded from IPUMS.

I have tried following the steps here (dowloading the IPUMS data and extracting it with 7zip) : [IPUMS USA](https://usa.ipums.org/usa/extract_instructions.shtml).  
But when I get step 3, I get this error message in STATA: file ipumsi\_0002.do not found, r(601).

I am fairly sure I have set up the correct working directory, so I don’t understand why it is not working. For some reason, I simply am not managing to turn an extract into a DTA file to use in Stata.

Moreover, when I see the extracted file in my file explorer and simply right click to open it with Stata, I get this message instead: "C:\Users\clero\OneDrive\Documenti\Master’s thesis\STATA\ipumsi\_00002.dat\ipumsi\> \_00002.dat is not a valid command name  
r(199);

When I try to open it with File Viewer, I get this message: “The file is damaged or 1 File Viewer could not open this file: C:\Users\clero\AppData\Local\Temp\AweZip\Temp1\AweZip7\ipumsi\_00002.dat”

I do not believe the file to be damaged, but what can I do to use the IPUMS data in Stata?

Thank you for your time and help.