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I have made all my commodity selections, but can’t get a “report” to show up. Where is the “Go” button? The “View Report” link has replaced the “Go” button (from an earlier USA Trade Online user interface). It is found in the upper-left corner of your Commodity Selection screen as shown in Figure A in the Reports Features section. |
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I want to view specific time periods as I did in previous versions, for example June and July 2004, how do I do this? USA Trade Online now stores more than two months worth of data in one report, in fact, we have monthly data dating back to January 2002 as well as annual data dating back to 1992. Time is now included with your Selection Criteria, along with the other dimensions you've grown accustomed to, such as commodity, country, measures, and customs district. |
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I used to check a box to sort? What do I do now? It's as easy as clicking the   arrows at the top of your report's columns. The downward pointing arrow sorts the data in descending order (meaning largest value first) and the upward pointing arrow does the opposite. Previously, the report had to be sorted according to the leftmost column. Now, you can sort in any column! You'll notice the arrow icons turn red   to identify the sorted column. Tell me more... |
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How do I convert my report into an Excel file? Click on the “Download” link under the Options list on your main Report screen, then use the drop-down box to select your desired format. Tell me more... |
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When I use the calculate percentages command in the Report Options list, the values seem to be half of what they should be. How do I fix this? If you calculate shares for a particular commodity with all countries as well as World Total selected, each country's share will be half of what it should be, with World Total showing a share of 50 percent. This occurs because the value for World Total by definition is equal to the sum of the values for all countries (we’d be in real trouble if it wasn’t!). To avoid this problem, make sure to deselect World Total when you are calculating your percentage shares (unless of course this action in desired based on your research question or questions). Tell me more... |
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I can't get my charts to look how I want. Please help! A good rule of thumb to remember when creating charts in USA Trade Online is that the categories adjacent to the data cells will be illustrated in the chart. For example, if the “Time” category goes along the top of the report and the “Country” category goes along the side of the report, then Country will be represented on the y-axis and Time on the x-axis. Another good rule of thumb is to avoid placing a one-variable category adjacent to the data cells. Tell me more... |
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Help! I spent hours working on a report and am sure I saved it. Yet, I can't find it anywhere on my hard drive. Unless you've already downloaded your original USA Trade Online report to another program (such as excel), it will be saved under "My Reports," which is found on the top menu bar. If you are a single-designated user, you must first sign in to work with private reports. If you are signing on as part of an institution (i.e. no sign in required), there may be multiple reports other than your own in this section. Tell me more... |
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How current are the data on USA Trade Online? The data on USA Trade Online are updated the same day the information are released by the Census Bureau. Generally, the data is released about 40 days behind the reference month. The schedule of releases is available as a link on the left-hand navigator on the USA Trade Online home page. |
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How do people use USA Trade Online? USA Trade Online allows users to conduct price comparisons, market penetration studies, foreign competition studies, new market research, time series analysis, and more. |