{"id":2082,"date":"2014-07-07T10:07:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-07T10:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/\/articles\/formats-for-download-from-sap-se16\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T09:11:28","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T09:11:28","slug":"formats-for-download-from-sap-se16","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/en\/articles\/formats-for-download-from-sap-se16\/","title":{"rendered":"Formats for download from SAP\u00ae (SE16)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Formats for download from SAP (SE16)<\/h2>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">In this post I will show you the download options from SAP and describe the various formats. I will also discuss the disadvantages of access and downloads with the transaction \u201eSE16 \u2013 Data Browser\u201c.<\/p>\n<h3>Entry into transaction \u201eSE16 \u2013 Date Browser\u201c<\/h3>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">After launching the transaction, you are prompted in the window to enter a table name (e.g., <strong>BSAK \u2013 balanced vendor items<\/strong>) which you can confirm with the Enter key.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/Publ\/cD\/20140708_SAP_SE16_D_01.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">In the next window you can enter filter criteria, depending on the selected table, and thus reduce the amount of data to be downloaded. This can be very important, depending on the size of the table. Filters on unordered (non-indexed) SAP fields increase the access time enormously, increasing the probability of a \u201ctime out\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/Publ\/cD\/20140708_SAP_SE16_D_02.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">You always need to keep in mind that the number of columns and rows in this window is restricted by default in the table output. Looking at tables directly in SAP is associated with very high system load and therefore it is limited by default by SAP, where you can remove the restriction. To be able to view and download the \u201ccomplete\u201d table, you must set the value \u201cwidth of the output list\u201d to 9999 and remove \u201cmaximum number of hits\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/Publ\/cD\/20140708_SAP_SE16_D_03.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">Now all records are displayed in this table (32.116), while in the line \u201cfields displayed: \u2026\u201d there is a restriction which is not to be overcome. There are only 73 of 179 columns displayed. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/en\/articles\/displaying-the-field-name-or-the-field-label-in-se16\/\">By switching from field identifier to field name<\/a> you can see some additional columns, but you\u2019ll never see all fields in very wide tables, as in the BSAK table. The display is limited to 1024 characters in width (0-1023).<\/p>\n<p class=\"align-justify\">After these short initial remarks we\u2019ve reached the actual aspect of this blogpost \u2013 which data formats are available for download. Using \u201cEdit \u2013 Download\u201d or right click in the \u201cdownload\u201d table allows you to open the wizard.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/Publ\/cD\/20140708_SAP_SE16_D_04.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"align-justify\"><strong>unconverted<\/strong> <br \/>This label draws no conclusions from the format in the end. This is to create a simple text file (.txt). The advantage is that the downloaded data is written one on one without data interpretation (unconverted) from SAP\u00ae into a text file.<\/li>\n<li class=\"align-justify\"><strong>Spreadsheet<\/strong> <br \/>The target format of this label is hardly surprising, an Excel file (.xls) and the SAP columns are written in individual Excel columns. This is useful for rapid processing, but the number of records in Excel is limited and the formatting (numbers, dates, etc.) can also be misinterpreted by Excel. This often leads to disadvantages in further processing.<\/li>\n<li class=\"align-justify\"><strong>Rich Text Format<\/strong> <br \/>This export function creates a .rtf file which contains the actual date as well as formatting instructions for text processing programs. The very long waiting time for the creation\/export into this format, is a great disadvantage and further processing is required in special cases.<\/li>\n<li class=\"align-justify\"><strong>HTML Format<\/strong> <br \/>The data is exported and optimized for opening in web browsers (e.g., Internet Explorer). Hereby the actual data is also provided with formatting instructions for display.<\/li>\n<li class=\"align-justify\"><strong>To Clipboard\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <\/strong>Use this option to copy all records to the clipboard and the data can be copied manually e.g., into a text file or Excel file.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>The SAP transaction \u201eSE16\u201c may be regarded as a useful tool, but it should not be used as the main extraction tool. Well-defined disadvantages are the incomplete download of the table width (about 1024 characters), the time outs (SAP dropout by logon timeout without result) and the enormous stress of SAP system performance. The user also must download each table manually and this creates unnecessary idle times. As a conclusion \u2013 a professional data analysis needs a decent data extraction tool and \u201cSE16\u201d cannot be seen as the ideal solution.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-fe48e5de wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link has-luminous-vivid-orange-background-color has-background wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dab-europe.com\/en\/contact-us\/\">Contact us for questions!<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Formats for download from SAP (SE16) In this post I will show you the download options from SAP and describe the various formats. I will also discuss the disadvantages of access and downloads with the transaction \u201eSE16 \u2013 Data Browser\u201c. Entry into transaction \u201eSE16 \u2013 Date Browser\u201c After launching the transaction, you are prompted in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7702,"template":"","articles_category":[],"articles_tag":[92,99],"class_list":["post-2082","articles","type-articles","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","articles_tag-sap","articles_tag-data-extraction"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SAP Download (SE16): Formats &amp; Options<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"SAP Download (SE16): Options &amp; Formats \u2713 Description of different formats \u2713 Pros &amp; cons of the SAP SE16 transaction \u2013 Learn more online!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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