Originally Posted by: maeday

In MS11 and earlier versions it was possible to create a favourites list by cutting and pasting lists of shares sourced from Word in a csv format into the Explorer panel. It was not possible to replicate this in MS15 but I thought I saw somewhere that MS16 could handle csv format. I use a local instrument list, not on-line data from Thomson-Reuters. My question therefore is - Using local data, is there a way to create a new custom instrument list by importing lists of instruments in csv format from say Word directly, instead of having to add each instrument separately using the Browse function.

I trade using both FA and TA and I need to import relatively long lists of stocks sourced from separate FA software into separate Custom Lists in MS so that I can then apply my TA.  (I so miss those Favourites Lists - Damn !)

Hi,

When you say "lists of instruments in csv format" are you referring to CSV files residing in a single folder? When you create a new local data list in MetaStock 16, you browse to the folder containing the CSV data, and as long as the CSV data is in the correct format, MetaStock should be able to work with these CSV files directly.

Originally Posted by: maeday

Thank you for your comment. I'm referring to a list of instruments, or shares, in csv format in a Word file that is separate altogether from MS. It is in fact sourced from other software. I understand that this data has to be placed in the correct format for MS, which is essentially changing it from ABC, DEF, etc to D_ABC, D_EFG, etc. I can also see in the Help files for MS16 that local data can be listed in csv format in Custom Lists so I suppose my real problem is how can I load my long lists of csv data from a Word file into a Custom List in MS16 using say a cut and paste approach and not having to add each instrument one by one by browsing.

Thank you for the clarification. We might need to see more specifically how you are storing the data on your system to give you the best answer, but there is not a way to paste data into MetaStock directly. MetaStock basically just links to wherever the data is by browsing to that location. As long as the CSV files contain the proper headers within each one, we should be able to read every CSV file within a given folder. We do not convert the data as part of this process (although we do display a D_ in front of each symbol in the list to indicate the periodicity/interval).

Originally Posted by: maeday

Thank you again for your prompt reply. My raw data is held in Data Director 3 which is supplied by my data supplier Paritech. It does not accept csv formats and I wouldn't want it to anyhow as the data in the csv lists I want to import into a new Custom List is already in DD3. I have since found that if I put the csv data into a list in Word, without the commas, I can paste that list into a new Custom List in MS16 but I can't get it to populate. In the Custom List Manager panel, the correct number of instruments I have attempted to add is shown But not in the main panel that lists all my Custom Lists. I first raised this issue when I purchased MS15 and was told then it would be possible to do what I wanted if I took Thomson Reuters data and it looks like the answer is still the same.

Hi,

I believe I understand a bit better now, thank you. The legacy MetaStock versions (11 and prior) did work with .SYM files (basically a list of ticker symbols in a txt format), which would allow you to make online data requests or create local data files in the DownLoader.

In current versions of MetaStock, you can use Ctrl-V to Paste into a Custom List, however this was only really intended to work with Custom Online Data Lists to make online data requests. There is a bit of a bug in that you can also Ctrl-V into a Custom Local Data List, but this doesn't really do anything (it kind of breaks that list though).

Ultimately, the raw data has to be in a format that MetaStock can read, which is either CSV, Legacy (data format used in versions 11 and prior), or MSLocal (versions 15 and later).