Univik Concordance DAT Viewer
At a Glance
The Short Version
Who It Helps
Law Firms Reviewing a Production
A firm receives a production as DAT and image files. Someone needs to check the fields and Bates ranges before review starts, without loading everything into a platform.
At a Glance
Univik DAT Viewer at a Glance
Five quick answers before you even scroll.
$0
Completely Free
Open a Concordance DAT file free, with no registration and no watermark.
þ
Delimiter Handled
The viewer reads the ASCII 20 field separator and thorn qualifier for you, so fields never merge.
Auto
Encoding Detected
Windows-1252 or UTF-8 is picked up automatically, so text never turns to boxes.
Grid
Table View
Every field lands in its own column, ready to sort, search and scroll.
PC
No Platform Needed
Read the file on a plain Windows PC with no Concordance or Relativity seat.
The Short Version
Why a DAT File Won't Open Cleanly
If you have been handed a .dat file and are looking for how to view it, here is the catch. A Concordance DAT file is the standard load file of eDiscovery. It lists documents in a legal production, one per line, with a column of metadata for each. The trouble is how it is delimited: fields are separated by an invisible control character, ASCII 20, and text is wrapped in a thorn qualifier, ASCII 254. Open the file in Notepad and you see boxes. Import it into Excel with the default settings and every field merges into one column.
Univik DAT Viewer reads the Concordance delimiters for you and lays the file out as a clean table on Windows. No eDiscovery platform, no delimiter guesswork and no encoding headache. If you want the full technical breakdown of the format, see our Concordance DAT file guide.
Who It Helps
When a DAT File Lands on Your Desk
Load files show up across legal and litigation work. If any of these is you, the viewer was built for it.
Paralegals and Litigation Support
A quick read of the load file confirms field names, custodians and family ranges before a production goes out or comes in. A hex-free way to spot a problem early.
eDiscovery Vendors
Processing teams spot-check a DAT file they built for a client. A fast local open confirms the delimiters, encoding and field count are right before delivery.
Anyone Handed a .dat File
You got a .dat file and Excel made a mess of it. Open it here and read it as a proper table, without learning the Concordance format first.
Three Steps
Three Steps
How to Open a DAT File in 3 Steps
Install, open, read. No delimiter settings, no encoding guesswork.
1
Install the Free Viewer
Download and run the installer on any Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC. No account is needed.
2
Open the .dat File
Point the viewer at your Concordance DAT file. It detects the Concordance delimiters and the encoding on its own.
3
Read It as a Table
Every field lands in its own column. Sort, search and scroll the records the way you would a spreadsheet.
Download the Free Viewer
Windows 11 and 10 · no Concordance or Relativity seat · nothing uploaded
What You Need
System Requirements
A light desktop app. If you can run a browser, you can run this.
Operating System
Windows 11 and Windows 10, both 64-bit. Windows Server builds run the viewer for teams working on a review server.
Memory and Disk
4 GB RAM handles everyday load files. Large productions with hundreds of thousands of rows read faster with 8 GB. The install is small.
No Extra Software
No Concordance, no Relativity and no database engine are needed. The viewer reads the .dat file on its own.
No Internet Required
The viewer works fully offline. A connection is used only to download the installer, never to open a file.
Why Not Excel
Why Not Excel
DAT Viewer vs Excel
You can force a DAT file into Excel. Here is what that costs you.
Use the viewer to read a load file straight away. Reach for Excel only when you want to edit and re-save small data by hand.
Questions
Questions
DAT Viewer Questions
Install Univik DAT Viewer on Windows, point it at your .dat file and it opens the load file as a table. The viewer detects the Concordance delimiters and the encoding for you, so you skip the import wizard and the delimiter guesswork.
Yes. Univik DAT Viewer is free to download and use. There is no watermark, no registration and no time limit on reading your load files.
That happens when a tool reads the file with a comma delimiter. A Concordance DAT file separates fields with an invisible control character, ASCII 20, not a comma, and wraps values in a thorn qualifier. The viewer reads these delimiters automatically, so every field lands in its own column.
Yes. Garbled text means the encoding is being read wrong, usually Windows-1252 read as UTF-8 or the reverse. The viewer detects the encoding on its own and shows the text correctly, which is a common trip-up when opening a DAT file by hand.
No. The viewer reads the .dat file directly on a plain Windows PC. You do not need a Concordance database, a Relativity workspace or any eDiscovery platform to read the fields inside the load file.
No. All reading happens on your own Windows PC and the viewer opens the file without changing it. Nothing is uploaded, which keeps a legal production confidential and the chain of custody clean.
Yes. The viewer is built to read large productions with many thousands of rows, which is where a spreadsheet tends to hit a row limit or slow down. 8 GB of RAM helps with the biggest files.
Univik DAT Viewer runs on Windows 11 and Windows 10, both 64-bit, and on Windows Server. 4 GB of RAM handles everyday files and 8 GB helps with large productions. No Concordance, Relativity or database engine is needed, and the viewer works fully offline.
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Data & forensic software
Since 2013
About This Page
The Univik Research Team has been building data conversion and forensic software since 2013. Our engineers work with eDiscovery and file formats every day, including load files, delimited data and email containers. Content on this page is checked against published eDiscovery load-file specifications.
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