Gathering and Collating Data
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      2. Gathering and Collating Data

      Copy and Paste into TRACE

      TRACE has been designed to make inputting your data as easy as possible. To avoid the complications of uploading csv files, we let users intuitively copy and paste information into the modules.

      You can copy and paste from both Excel and Google sheets, using the templates or your own file.  However, the data must be in the correct format to be pasted, and the drop-down choices of your templates must be exactly the same as in TRACE.

      • TRACE templates have been designed to collect data in the exact format required. Do not change the drop-down options as the data won’t paste into TRACE
      • If pasting from your own internal documents it is essential that the drop-down choices match exactly. This includes the order of the columns, options in the drop-downs, spelling, spacing and capitalisation. 
      • If there's a problem, TRACE will highlight the row number an issue appears in, so you can review and fix the data as needed.
      • Copying and pasting into TRACE works best as a whole table. Select the entire table to copy, then in TRACE click in the top-left cell in the platform paste. Note, you can only paste as rows or whole tables, not as columns. 
      • Blank cells and rows are skipped in the platform. This can mess up your data! If you have blank cells you’ll need to enter data manually.
      • For the transport sections, if you have lots of data to paste, TRACE may take a little time to calculate the distances. Once you’ve pasted your data in, don’t scroll around, attempt to save, or leave the page until all the distances have been calculated, as this can erase your work. Once it’s finished Save and continue.
      • The distance calculator is global, which means that as there can be many locations with the same name, you may need to add the country to your start/end location for the calculation to work, e.g.:
        • Instead of “Springfield”, you may need to write “Springfield, England” to differentiate from "Springfield, NZ" and "Springfield, Canada" -- and use state or zipcode to help identify the 67 different Springfields in the USA. 
        • Postcodes default to the UK but can work for other countries -- you'll just need to give a bit more information e.g. “23232, USA” (Richmond, VI), "23232, Croatia" (Zadarska) or "23232,  Serbia" (Begejci).