OTDR trace to a spreadsheet
SOR to Excel: the event table as CSV or XLSX
Open the file, press Report and then Download CSV. Excel opens the file with a double click. The job details, the acquisition conditions, the instrument's totals and the event table are in it, each figure in its own cell.
CSV needs a sign-in with your email, and signing in is free. The PDF sheet needs no sign-in.
What is in the CSV
The CSV is the report sheet without the curve: the same rows, in the same order, as text a spreadsheet reads.
Job details and conditions
Site, cable, fibre, operator and instrument come first, then the wavelength, the pulse width and the index of refraction. What the file states is taken from the file. The rows you filled in on the form come along with them.
The event table
One row per event: number, distance, type, loss, reflectance, slope, cumulative loss. Where the instrument recorded nothing the cell is left empty, so a formula does not stumble over a dash.
Numbers that Excel reads as numbers
The figures keep the precision the file gives, without the rounding of the printed sheet. The decimal mark follows the language you chose for the report, and the first line of the file names the column separator, so the columns land in their cells without the import wizard.
Totals
Span loss, the lengths and ORL, as the instrument recorded them. If the fibre was measured at two wavelengths, each one gets its own block of conditions, totals and events.
What the CSV does not carry
The curve is not in the file: there is no column of sample points to plot in Excel. The table holds what the instrument wrote about the trace, and the trace itself stays in the app and on the PDF sheet. Our own findings are left out as well, the same as on the sheet.
Not just .sor
A file from EXFO, Anritsu, VIAVI, Fluke, Wavetek, Tribrer or INNO goes to CSV with the same button: .trc, .trcx, .bdr, .msor, .csor, .tst, .TFW, .WTK, .tor. There is nothing to unpack or convert first, and an archive of traces opens as it is.
A whole cable in one workbook
Many fibres at once is Professional. The set goes into one .xlsx workbook: the job details, the totals for every fibre at each wavelength, the loss of every splice from A to B, from B to A and as their mean, the list of files, and all events on one sheet with a filter.
The workbook writes numbers as numbers. The means and the totals are values, not Excel formulas, so the workbook says what the PDF says.
Questions about Excel and CSV
How do I convert a SOR file to Excel?
Open the file in the app, sign in with your email, press Report and then Download CSV. Excel opens the file directly.
Can I get the points of the trace in Excel?
No. The CSV carries the event table, the conditions and the totals. The samples of the curve are not in it.
Is it free?
The CSV for one fibre is free once you sign in with your email. The .xlsx workbook for a set of fibres is part of the Professional plan.
Does it work for .trc files?
Yes. .trc, .trcx, .bdr, .msor, .csor, .tst, .TFW, .WTK, .tor and INNO files go to CSV with the same button, with no conversion to .sor first.