Chapter 1Introduction
LOGADEC is software for displaying and analyzing time-series measurement data. It consists of a single HTML file and runs simply by opening it in a browser. It needs no installation and no internet connection.
This chapter summarizes what LOGADEC can do and what you should know before using it. If you want to start right away, go to Chapter 2 The First Five Minutes.
1.1What LOGADEC can do
| Task | What LOGADEC can do |
|---|---|
| Load | Loads CSV, Excel (.xlsx/.xls/.xlsm), and NI TDMS. The delimiter (comma, tab, semicolon), decimal separator (dot, comma), character encoding, header row, and unit row are detected automatically. The X-axis column can also be a date-time (such as 2026-10-01 08:00:00) or a time of day only. You can also import all files in a folder at once and join them into one series in time order (Chapter 4) |
| View | Overlays many series, or arranges them in separate tiers by item. Zoom and pan work with just the mouse wheel and dragging (Chapter 5) |
| Analyze | Formula calculations (Chapter 7), analyses such as FFT, STFT, wavelet, change-point detection, outlier detection, and correlation and lag (Chapter 8, Chapter 9), and XY scatter plots with fitted curves (Chapter 10). Filters can be applied per series (Chapter 5) |
| Share | Saves the entire analysis state to an .lgd file that you can hand to colleagues. You can also export images (PNG and others) and CSV/Excel (Chapter 11) |
1.2System requirements
| Item | Details |
|---|---|
| Browser | Latest version of Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge (recommended) |
| Other browsers | LOGADEC also runs in Firefox and Safari. However, saving works as a download instead of overwriting the same file |
| Graphics | WebGL must be available (almost all current PCs support it) |
| Installation | Not required. No administrator rights are needed either |
| Network | Not required. LOGADEC never communicates with anything outside your PC |
1.3Free and paid editions
All display and analysis features are available in the free edition. The differences are the number of series you can handle and whether you can save .lgd files.
| Free edition (Free) | Paid edition (Personal, Commercial) | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of series you can load | Up to 1,000 | Unlimited |
| Number of series displayed at once | 150 (fixed) | 300 (adjustable from 10 to 2,000) |
Saving .lgd files |
Not available (you can open them) | Available |
| Display, analysis, image and CSV export | All available | All available |
1.4How your data is handled
- No external communication. The data you load is never sent outside your PC.
- Your original data is never modified. Formulas, unit conversions, and filters are all applied to the display only. The files you loaded stay unchanged.
- Settings stay in your browser. Theme and display settings are saved in the browser you use. They are not carried over to other PCs.
1.5How to read this manual
- Text shown on screen appears in brackets, like Save.
- Keyboard keys appear like Ctrl + S.
- The numbers on screenshots (1, 2, …) correspond to the numbers in the descriptions below each screenshot.
- Screenshots are taken with practice sample data (data from a fictitious endurance test). You can download the sample data from the manual's table of contents page. Some screenshots in Chapter 4 are taken with fictitious data-logger logs split by hour.