What is a DAT file?

A file in the DAT format contains DAT or information for specific software to handle. This information put in the DAT file present in the form of text or binary encoding format.

You can usually find them as winmail.DAT.file in email attachments or you might come in contact with them as the actual DATa of a video file for programs like VCDGear or CyberLink Power Director.

But what type of DATa the file contains you will never able to know unless you open it. These DAT files can be authored, opened and edited using the associated Microsoft Windows application or the Mac software which was used to create the DAT file.

Move next to how you can open a DAT file.

How to open a DAT file?

When it comes to open DAT file extension, it becomes a little bit difficult to tell whether you are dealing with a text-based, video-based, pictures or any configuration file for software on your computer.

So, to open a DAT file is very much depends upon the kind of information it contains.

Microsoft users can open these extension files by using Microsoft Notepad or text editor and Mac user can use any text editor to open it.

1. By using notepad OR text editor

Follow the steps to open a DAT file that contains text in it.

Step-1

Right-click on the DAT file which you want to open and then select the “open with” command.

Step-2

Now, in the open with window choose the text editor application which you want to use and then click on the OK button.

Step-3

Now you can able to read the content that the DAT file contains.

If you don’t then the DAT file you are trying to open is not a plain text file.

And the process could end up by showing you an unclear file.

This happens because you opened it in the wrong program.

But a positive side of this is, now you able to know what type of file it really was.

For example: If you opened a DAT file in Notepad which was actually a video file, you might get a hint that it is a picture.

Which means you have to open that file in its respective program to get the better result.

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2. Open the DAT file by changing the file extension

If you are not liking much to push a DAT file into its respective program whenever you want to open it, then you can simply change the file’s extensions.

Before proceeding keep in mind that you know the exact extension used for the DAT file.

To do that follow the steps.

Step – 1

Open the folder that contains the DAT file you want to open.

Step – 2

In the File, Folder click on the View tab and then click on Options.

Step – 3

In the Folder Options section click on the View tab again and unmark the option Hide extensions for known file types and click on OK.

Step – 4

Now go back to the DAT file, right-click on it then click on Rename.

Step – 5

Now you can select the DAT portion of the file’s name and change the extension from DAT. to the doc.

This method is also a solution for “how to convert DAT file”.

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How to open Winmail.DAT file?

Now Sometimes you may receive a DAT file as an email attachment which comes in the form of a Winmail.DAT or ATT0001. DAT file.

This happens because sometimes the recipient created in Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Microsoft Exchange application not using themselves. So, that instead of being able to view the full message you get a winmail.DAT file as an attachment.

Then you will think about how to open the winmail.DAT file without asking your contact to resend the email again.

So, to overcome this situation a straightforward way is to use winmailDAT.com

Follow the steps to open a winmail.DAT file

Step – 1

Open your email and download the winmail.DAT file.

Step – 2

Navigate to winmailDAT.com on your browser and click on “choose file” button then select the DAT file and click on “Open”.

You can also enter a URL. But keep in mind the file size should not exceed than 10MB.

Step – 3

After uploaded the DAT file, click on the Start button. The website will take some time to analyze the file so you have to wait.

On the result page, it shows everything about the DAT file from its origin to the information it contains.

Download that item on your computer. Where you can open and read the information it contains.

How to open a DAT file in Excel?

If the DAT file is in text format, you can easily import and open it in Microsoft Excel.

Follow the steps to do so.

Step – 1

Open Excel first.

Step – 2

Open file, then click on All files and select the DAT file which you want to open.

Step – 3

Select “delimited”.

Step – 4

Import starting at line 33.

Step – 5

Click on next button.

Step – 6

Unselect Tab and select semicolon. Now you can see bars separating DATa fields.

Step – 7

Now click on next and define each field.

Step – 8

Field 1,2 = DATe YMD.

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How to create a DAT file

After reading all the above stuff you want to know how to create a DAT file. Well, let’s cover that one also.

As the DAT file seems hi-tech you may think that there is a need for some sort of high-end software. But you can create a DAT file by using Notepad.

Follow the below steps

Step – 1

Open the Notepad program

Step – 2

Type the fields that you want to add in the Notepad document and further, it will be reflected in the DAT file. Each field should follow a specific format: “Field Description: $field.”

Step – 3

Click the “File” menu and then select the “Save As” option. Or press the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl + S. From the “Save as type” drop-down menu select the “All Types” option.

Step – 4

Type the name you want to set in the space labeled “File name,” followed by the “.dat” file extension. For example, if you want to keep the name the file “datfiledemo” then hit enter “datfiledemo.dat” in the “File name” space.

Step – 5

Click the “Save” button or hit enter to save the Notepad document as a DAT file.

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Conclusion

All your query like what is a DAT file to How to open DAT file in excel may have resolved.

As I said before a DAT file extension can be any type of DATa files like text, photo, video or any other basic DAT file.

If you want to open a DAT file in Microsoft Notepad that contains video or graphics, it removes the graphics effect and only shows you  HTML and text form of the file.

In such a situation, you can copy the text and paste in a new word document. Now you may see the extensive line of code in the text editor. Ignore the code and scroll through your desired text.

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