{"id":485,"date":"2026-02-17T19:09:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/?p=485"},"modified":"2026-02-17T19:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T19:09:30","slug":"how-to-manipulate-large-sheet-files-surfer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/how-to-manipulate-large-sheet-files-surfer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to manipulate large sheet files: SURFER !"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In Excel, the maximum worksheet size is <em>1048576 rows by 16384 columns<\/em>. It means that large files, typically gridded files are hard to manipulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/excel-specifications-and-limits-1672b34d-7043-467e-8e27-269d656771c3\">https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/excel-specifications-and-limits-1672b34d-7043-467e-8e27-269d656771c3<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A possible solution is to use SURFER, particularly the worksheet. SURFER is not free and other solutions will be presented in future publications. Let&#8217;s follow the guide:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-840\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Open your file, typically a txt file containing 3 columns for XYZ<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-2.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-841\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In the window that pops up, several options are requested (delimited, first line, Tab etc&#8230;). If options are correctly set, the preview displays columns as they are in the file. Click ok<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-3.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-842\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The file I&#8217;m using here contains more than 3 million lines. If you want to make a formula, click on Data&#8211;&gt;Transform<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-4.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-843\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The transform option can be set up by column. For instance, you want to transform positive values of Z into negative values. Just write the equation by column, meaning that column E will be the result of -D. However, you can use more complex formula using functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-5.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-844\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you click ok, just wait as more than 3 millions lines have to be calculated ! Check the progression bar at the bottom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-845\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some operations can be very long, up to minutes, sometimes more. Be patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In my case I have transformed C (Depth from sealevel) into D (Time from sealevel) using a simple equation described in this article:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-wp-embed is-provider-wordpress wp-block-embed-wordpress\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"6av9mgPCf4\"><a href=\"https:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/how-to-import-bathymetric-maps-in-petrel\/\">How to\u2026 import bathymetric maps in Petrel<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;How to\u2026 import bathymetric maps in Petrel&#8221; &#8212; WordPress\" src=\"https:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/2026\/02\/16\/how-to-import-bathymetric-maps-in-petrel\/embed\/#?secret=Grom4WoCx6#?secret=6av9mgPCf4\" data-secret=\"6av9mgPCf4\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Once it&#8217;s done, you must save the file as a txt file<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-7.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-846\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>ENJOY !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/paleturquoise-reindeer-331443.hostingersite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-8.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-847\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In Excel, the maximum worksheet size is 1048576 rows by 16384 columns. It means that large files, typically gridded files are hard to manipulate. https:\/\/support.microsoft.com\/en-us\/office\/excel-specifications-and-limits-1672b34d-7043-467e-8e27-269d656771c3 A possible solution is to use SURFER, particularly the worksheet. SURFER is not free and other solutions will be presented in future publications. Let&#8217;s follow the guide: Open your file,&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/2026\/02\/17\/how-to-manipulate-large-sheet-files-surfer\/\" rel=\"bookmark\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How to manipulate large sheet files: SURFER !<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[12,15,31],"class_list":["post-485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tips-and-tricks","tag-bathymetry","tag-coordinates","tag-surfer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":486,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aurelieng.fr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}