In Tutorial 18, we looked at how to export data from ShareScope for use in other applications.

In this tutorial, we look at the different ways of importing data into ShareScope. This may be useful if, for example, you have holdings which are not listed in the program (e.g. overseas instruments) but wish to add them to ShareScope portfolios.

Data can be added to ShareScope by adding it manually or by importing it from a file. We will look at each of these in turn:

• Adding a share manually
• Importing from a file
• Importing individual items
• Importing multiple files
• Importing multiple items in the same file
• Editing and deleting imported data
• Import share list

Share data can be added manually via the Add new data function in the Edit menu.

This displays the following dialog:

Here you can enter the name of the share and other fundamental information – Normal Market Size (NMS), Number of shares issued, Share type, Listing, Currency and Event type.

To begin entering price information for the share, click on the Share Price tab at the top of the dialog.

This displays a list of trading days with the corresponding price(s) on that date. By default, this shows only the closing price. However, you can also choose to add open, high, low and volume data by de-selecting the Display close only option at the bottom of the dialog.

As we have not yet entered any information, all dates are marked with the entry Missing. To enter a price next to a date, double click on the relevant Missing entry and type in that day’s price data using the keyboard.

To move to the next date in the list, press Enter or Tab. You can also use the Up and Down cursor keys to scroll up and down the list.

On the right hand side of the dialog, you will notice four additional options:

Once you are happy with your entries, click OK.

Your new data will now appear in the All list, the Imported data list and the list you selected in the Share type option. For example, if you selected Ord then the new item will appear in the Share list.

Imported shares can also be added to a portfolio in the same way as any other share.

By default, the new item will appear in a grey font to distinguish it from other items in the list. To change this to another colour, right-click and select List design.... In the dialog, open the Text tab and click on Imported items to access the various display options.

An alternative to adding data manually within the program is to use the Import function. This is particularly useful if you have the price data contained within another program and simply want to transfer it into ShareScope.

In this section, we look at two key areas:

• Importing individual items
• Importing multiple files
• Importing multiple items in the same file

ShareScope allows you to import the following information using either Excel (.csv) or General (.exp) format:

• Share name
• Price / Date
• NMS
• Number of shares
• Type
• Listing
• Currency
• Event

You will notice that these are the options available within the Add New Data dialog we looked at in the last section.

To successfully import a file into ShareScope, it will need to follow a particular format. If the format is not recognised, the data cannot be imported.

We will shortly look at an example to illustrate this, but first we will look at the formatting “rules”:

The following details can be entered after the share name and should be followed by a colon (:).

Italicised below are recognised formats:

Let’s illustrate with an example from Excel. The share below is titled “My Share”.

Here’s another example, this time illustrating how to use OHLCV data:

To import the file, click on the File menu in ShareScope and select Import and then Import a share.

This displays the Import Preview dialog:

Here you can specify the settings for your imported data and preview any changes you make.

To accommodate different date formats, ShareScope lets you specify the date and field separator format used in the source file. In our above example, we have used a dd/mm/yy format, so we need to ensure the option Day Month Year is selected along with a forward slash / as the Date Separator in the Date format section.

If ShareScope cannot match the data to the selected import options, it will be displayed in red in the preview area. The example above shows an error with the price/date format.

The Field separators options allow you to specify how the date and price are separated. In our example we used a semi-colon (31/03/09;198.2) to separate the date and price. To specify this as the separator, select Other and enter ; into the box to the right.

We can now see the price and date have been separated, with the price under a new column heading (Close). The text no longer displays in red - meaning that the selection is now valid.

There is also the option to use the file name for the share if the imported file does not include a name. If this is not selected and no share name is given then ShareScope will prompt for a name.

You can also choose to import prices for multiple shares from within the same file using either Excel (.csv) or General (.exp) format.

In this case, entries in the input file should be a series of lines in the form:

Name, date, price(s), (volume).

In the example below, we have used tabs (i.e. columns) as the field separator. However, you can also use commas, spaces, or any other character on the keyboard. Please note that if spaces are used, the name field must not contain spaces or ShareScope will not accept it.

Generally speaking, the same formatting “rules” apply as before.

To reiterate:

• Prices are any number with a maximum of five digits with two decimal places, typically the format might be 107 or 23.25.
  
• You should not use a comma when expressing larger numbers (i.e. “two thousand” should be expressed 2000 – not 2,000)
  
• If there are fewer than 4 entries to the right of the date, the first entry will be read as the Close, and the others ignored.
  
  i.e. Name, date, close, (anything after this point ignored).
  
• If there are 4 entries to the right of the date, these will be read as Open, High, Low and Close (in that order)
  
  i.e. Name, date, open, high, low, close.
  
• If there are 5 or more entries to the right of the date, these will be read as Open, High, Low, Close and Volume (in that order). Any extra data will be ignored.
  
  i.e. Name, date, open, high, low, close and volume.
  

Again, most common date formats are recognised. Three-letter months are also supported e.g. 26-Jul-06, to allow data to be imported from a variety of sources.

To illustrate, here’s another example using OHLCV data:

To import the file, click on the File menu in ShareScope and select Import and then Import all shares in a file.

This will display the Import Preview dialog which we discussed earlier. Click here to revisit this section

You can easily update and edit price information for imported stocks from within ShareScope. This means that you won’t have to re-import files every time you want to update price information.

To edit imported data, simply right-click on the share in a list screen and select Edit Imported data from the context menu.

This will display the Input or amend imported share data dialog which we looked at the Adding a share manually section. Here you can update the price of the share and make any other changes you require.

To delete imported data from ShareScope, select the item you want to delete and select Delete imported data from the Edit menu. Alternatively, click on Delete all imported data if you wish to delete ALL imported data from ShareScope.

You can also use ShareScope’s import functionality to quickly and easily add a list of shares to a portfolio. This might be particularly useful if, for example, you’re adding a large number of items to a stock watchlist based on a list you may have seen online or read in an investment publication.

When using the Import share list function, the input file should be in plain text format, e.g. a txt file.

As you are using data which already exists within the program, you only need to enter the share’s EPIC code or ShareScope ID. You can also choose to add the exchange code - although this is optional for UK stocks (however you will need to enter this for non-UK stocks)

To illustrate, let’s look at the different ways you can enter Vodafone to the input file:

When entering multiple items, each share should be listed on a separate line, as the image below illustrates:

Where there is more than one type of share listed for a company, the ordinary share is added.

To import the file, open ShareScope and select File. From the drop-down menu, select Import and click Import share list.

From the Add Share List dialog, locate the file you wish to import and select Open. Now select the portfolio to which the shares should be added and press OK.

To create a new portfolio containing these shares, click the New Portfolio button.

Remember, if you have any trouble finding or using any of these features, please don’t hesitate to call our Customer Support team. They will be delighted to help.