Finding Recently Used Data Files in IBM SPSS Statistics

This tech tip illustrates how to find recently used data files in IBM SPSS Statistics. Users often work with many data sets. They can merge data files, append files, perform data examination, validation, and preparation, and run separate analyses across many files. With numerous tasks and files, users need to find specific files quickly.

With IBM SPSS Statistics, you can work within a single, integrated interface to perform descriptive statistics, regression analysis, advanced statistics, and machine learning models. Its seamless integration with open-source tools and quick access help ensure you are well-prepared for any data analysis task, giving you confidence in your abilities.

Users have the option to go to the File menu and select Open > Data. This opens a window that users can browse through to find files. This can be somewhat time-consuming, especially if there are multiple files in various locations.

A faster option is to go to the File menu and select Recently Used Data. This option provides a list of the most recently used data files, making it easy to find files that have been recently used and are a priority.  Users can click on a file in the list, which will open in Statistics. The Recently Used Data option also makes it easy for users to quickly access and work across multiple files in Statistics.

Also, users can see recently used data files if they are working in the Welcome Dialog. Users can go to the File menu and select Welcome Dialog. Once this dialog box is open, there is a tab for Recent Files. This option shows recently used files. Users can click on any file and open it.