Importing XML Files to Excel
You may have noticed the PACER sites for the Circuit Courts give you the option of downloading data from the documents in XML files. These files can contain as many as 60 different fields. You can import all of these into a single Excel spreadsheet by following these steps.
1. Go to the Developer tab, and select Source.
2. Click where it says, 'XML Maps' towards the bottom of the XML Source window which opens.
3. In the new dialog box that opens, click Add . . . and then select one of the many XML files you may have downloaded.
4. You should see a window indicating that the XML source does not have a schema. Let Excel create one based on the XML file and click OK.
5. Select cell A1 on your worksheet, and then the In the XML Source pane, right click on 'caseSummary' so all of the fields are highlighted and then choose Map Element
6. The fields from the XML file will appear in the first row. Go back to the Developer tab and click on 'Import' and select all of the XML files you downloaded from the PACER site for a Circuit Court.
7. Presto! Your worksheet will load with thousands of data points for these fields:
caseNumber
dateFiled
natureOfSuit
dateTerminated
shortTitle
origCourt
type
subType
subSubType
district
division
caseNumber2
leadCaseNumber
caseNumberLink
leadCaseNumberLink
dateFiled3
dateJudgment
dateJudgmentEOD
dateNOAFiled
dateDecided
dateRecdCoa
dateSentence
leadCaseNumber4
memberCaseNumber
associatedType
dateStart
dateEnd
panelType
enbanc
panelists
dateHearing
dateComplete
dateDecision
info
prisonerNumber
type5
firstName
middleName
lastName
generation
suffix
title
fax
address1
address2
address3
office
unit
room
businessPhone
personalPhone
city
state
zip
terminationDate
noticeInfo
caption
dateFiled6
text
docLink