📌 The File Import feature is available on the Professional or Enterprise plan.
📌 One import credit is used per response when using the import feature.
What is File Import?
File Import is a feature that lets you bring survey result files collected in other survey tools into Dataspace.
Simply create a new survey, then upload a CSV file of survey results — no need to collect responses directly in Dataspace. You can review and analyze the data immediately within Dataspace.
When to use File Import
1️⃣ To consolidate survey results from multiple sources
If you've already run surveys through external tools, import the CSV result files into Dataspace to review and manage everything in one place.
2️⃣ To analyze existing survey data immediately
Without re-distributing your survey or collecting new responses, import your existing CSV files and instantly use Dataspace's Text AI Analysis and cross-tabulation features — no complex setup required.
Use Insight Wiki to automatically generate an analysis report from your survey results by simply entering your research objective or questions.
Before you import — please check the following!
Your CSV file must meet Dataspace's file format requirements before importing. Review all of the points below before uploading.
1️⃣ Prepare a CSV UTF-8 file.
File Import only supports CSV UTF-8 (comma-separated CSV) format.
Files containing personal information — such as names, addresses, phone numbers, dates of birth, email addresses, company/school names, or national ID numbers — cannot be imported.
✅ Check your file before importing
The file will not upload if any of the following conditions are not met:
File size: Max 2MB
File type: CSV UTF-8 (comma-separated CSV)
Number of columns: Max 1,000
Data type: Cannot import files containing personal information
2️⃣ Follow the format guide.
① Add an identifier variable
An identifier variable is a unique value that distinguishes each response — like a customer ID or response number.
If there are 100 responses, there must be 100 unique, non-duplicate identifier values.
The identifier variable must always be in the first column of the file.
If no identifier exists or values are duplicated, the import will not proceed.
💡 Tip: When a file is imported, a default identifier variable called "Response ID" is automatically created separately from the user-defined identifier. When you download the result data from the analysis screen, "Response ID" will appear in the first column.
② Enter variable names
Enter variable names for each column in the first row of the file.
Variable names may only contain letters, numbers, underscores (_), hyphens (-), and periods (.) — no spaces — and must not duplicate variable names used in other questions.
Keep variable names within 10 characters. Make them concise and easy to understand. (e.g., AGE, JOB, AREA)
If a variable name contains an underscore (_), the question type recommendation feature will suggest it as a "multiple-selection" type. If it's not a multiple-choice question, use a format without underscores, such as Q1-1.
③ Enter values
Enter actual survey response data starting from the second row.
◾ Choice questions
Response values must be entered as integers.
Use -1 for no response ("None" option selected), and -99 for "Other" option selected with written input.
◾ Numeric questions
Both integers and decimals are supported.
Use a minus sign (-) before the number for negative values.
◾ Handling non-responses
Empty cells are automatically treated as non-responses.
If specific values like #N/A, NA, or 0 should be treated as non-responses, you can designate them during the import process.
◾ "None" choice
If a question includes a "None" choice and a respondent selected it, add a separate column (e.g., Q7_NA) and enter -1 as the value.
Data collected in Dataspace also uses -1 as the common code for the "None" choice.
◾ "Other" choice
If a question includes an "Other" choice with open-ended input and a respondent selected it, add a separate column (e.g., Q10_ETC) and enter the respondent's written answer. If no content was entered, use a placeholder like "NoOtherResponse."
Use -99 for the respondent's question variable. Dataspace uses -99 as the common code for the "Other" choice.
How to Import a File
1️⃣ Go to the File Import screen
On the home screen, click [+ Create New], then select [File Import] under [Import Data], or select [File Import] under [Analyze with your own file].
2️⃣ Select the file to register
Step 1. Select the CSV file you want to import.
🧙 Common File Import Issues
✅ "Unsupported file encoding" message appears.
File Import only supports CSV UTF-8 (comma-separated CSV) format. When saving in Excel, make sure the file format is set to CSV UTF-8 (comma-delimited), then try uploading again.
✅ "java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Invalid prefix or suffix" error appears.
Certain special characters cannot be used in variable names (first row) of the upload file.
Allowed: _ (underscore), - (hyphen), . (period)
Not allowed: /, spaces, other special characters
Check that the variable names do not contain unsupported special characters, make corrections, and try again.
✅ "Other response (-99) was selected but no content is entered." message appears.
This message appears when a respondent selected the "Other" choice but no written content was entered in the file. Either enter the content for the "Other" choice or use a placeholder such as "NoOtherResponse."
Step 2. For non-responses in the import file, select how that data is represented.
Step 3. If responses with multiple choices selected exist in the file, select how the data is stored — either unique value format or 0/1 format.
✅ Unique value format
The unique value format stores each selected choice as its unique value.
For example, if a question has choices Q1_1, Q1_2, Q1_3 and a respondent selected multiple choices, the value of each selected choice is stored in its cell.
✅ 0/1 format
The 0/1 format stores selection status for each choice as 0 or 1, with each choice in its own column.
1: The choice was selected
0: The choice was not selected
Step 4. Select the survey method for the file you are importing. If it is not on the list, select "Other" and enter it manually.
3️⃣ Check and set question types
This step assigns the appropriate question type to each variable in the file. Correctly setting question types makes it much easier to view results as charts and interpret them during analysis.
Step 1. After uploading the file, all variables from each column are displayed. The [Recommend Variable Type] feature automatically suggests a suitable question type for each variable.
Step 2. Review the recommended question types and either click [Apply] to accept them or click the question type to change it.
💡 Tip: You can change an already-assigned question type at any time using the dropdown menu. If multiple variables are incorrectly grouped together, you can ungroup them in the Changes column, then regroup them as desired in the variable type recommendation screen.
💡 Tip: Creating empty variables is useful when you want to merge a file-imported survey or variable with another survey. To merge surveys, the structure — number of questions, choices, question types — must be the same. Empty variables (with no values) can still be used for merging as long as the structure matches.
Step 3. Once all question types are assigned, review the variable data on screen, select any variables not needed for analysis, and click [Exclude Variable].
💡 Tip: To start all settings over from scratch, click the [Reset] button. All progress will be cleared at once.
4️⃣ Enter labels for variables and values
In this step, you assign readable names (labels) to each variable and its values.
For example, you can label the AGE variable as "Age" and the AREA variable as "Region," and label numeric values with the text used in the survey, such as "Male" or "Female."
💡 Tip: Labeling is optional, but adding labels makes data much easier to read and understand in the analysis screen.
Step 1. Enter variable labels and value labels for each variable defined in the previous step. Labels can be entered one by one, or multiple labels can be edited at once using [Bulk Edit] or [Edit Labeling File].
✅ Bulk Edit
If you already have a list of variable and value labels, copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) the content into the input screen to apply all at once.
✅ Edit Labeling File
Click [Download] to download a file with a Label column added next to variable names and a Value Label column next to values. Fill in the labels in the appropriate columns, then save the file.
Click [Upload] to re-upload the labeled file, and all labels will be applied at once.
💡 Tip: If a choice question includes "Other" or "None" choices, make sure to designate them as Other/None in the value labels.
💡 Tip: For open-ended numeric questions, you can set the minimum and maximum values and the display unit (e.g., years, KRW) in the [Enter Unit] section during the labeling step.
🧙 Common File Import Issues
✅ I'm not sure how to enter labels.
Suppose you have the following question: Q1. What is your favorite fruit?
Strawberry 2) Apple 3) Grape 4) Banana
Enter the following in each label field:
NAME: BQ1
LABEL: What is your favorite fruit?
VALUE: 1, 2, 3, 4
VALUE LABEL: Strawberry, Apple, Grape, Banana
✅ "There is an 'Other' value in the variable. Please designate the Other value." message appears.
This message appears when the survey data includes an "Other" choice but the value has not been designated as "Other" in the labeling step.
In the labeling step, click [Labeling] for the relevant question, select the Other response, then click [Designate Other/None > Designate as Other] at the top, and click [Save].
5️⃣ Review the data to be registered
Once all question types and labels are set, this final step lets you review the data to ensure everything was correctly registered. Check that the response count, question type, and label information for each variable are reflected as intended.
Step 1. Review the variable card area at the top of the screen to confirm that variable types and labels are correctly assigned.
Adjust the horizontal scroll bar to review variables further to the right.
You can toggle between value label view and value view.
Step 2. At the bottom of the screen, you can review each respondent's response data. You can see at a glance what value each respondent selected for each variable. Scroll vertically to view other respondents, and adjust the horizontal scroll bar to review other variables.
The File Import feature may feel complex at first, but following the guide step by step will make it easy to learn.
If you encounter issues that this guide doesn't resolve, click the Customer Support icon on the right side of the screen to reach us anytime. We'll do our best to help you resolve the issue quickly.