Stage 1. Data Import

This is the beginning of the analysis session. In this stage, you will:

  • Load your data and standards
  • Choose or create a configuration
  • State your standards identifier
  • Specify the file extension of your data files

Selecting your data and standards

To start the analysis session, you will need to load your data. The data used for this tutorial is stored within the LAtools directory under latools_gui\data. This directory contains the following files:

  • Sample-1.csv
  • Sample-2.csv
  • Sample-3.csv
  • STD-1.csv
  • STD-2.csv

For this tutorial, LAtools will automatically load the data, so no change is required.

Using your own data

If you wish to use your own data, you will need to place all your data and standards into a single folder. To load the data into LAtools, open your computers file explorer by clicking Browse, then navigate to the folder containing all your files. Then click open.

Configuring LAtools

A configuration stores information about the way your data is formatted, and where on your computer your SRM tables are saved. In this example, we will use the DEFAULT configuration.

If you are using your own data, you may need to either select a different configuration, or create a new configuration. To select a different configuration, simply click on the Configuration drop down menu, then select the one you wish to use for your analysis session. For instructions on how to create a new configuration, see Creating or modifying a configuration.

Specifying a SRM identifier

The SRM identifier identifies which of your files contain standard reference materials. By default, this value is set to ‘STD’. This means that any data file with ‘STD’ in its name will be flagged as an SRM. When using your own data, you need to have a unique identifier in your standard file names - it can be ‘STD’ or some other string. You can specify your SRM identifiers by modifying the SRM Identifier dialogue box.

In this tutorial, we have loaded two SRMs: STD-1.csv and STD-2.csv. Therefore, no change to this field is required.

Data file extension

Lastly, you will need to specify the extension type of the files you are using. All the files used in this tutorial are .csv files. The default value for this is .csv. For this tutorial, no change to this field is required.

If you are using your own data that are not .csv files, you will need to type it into the Data File Extension dialogue box.

Start plotting!

To plot your data, click APPLY. Your data plots will be visible in the plotting panel.

plot raw data

Navigating the plotting panel is quite easy - however, if you’re having difficulties see Navigating the plotting panels.