Microsoft Windows Event Viewer logs events that occur on a computer running Microsoft Windows. The logs record a variety of events, including information about account logon and logoff activity, system information, warnings and errors. The event log is an invaluable tool for troubleshooting failed applications or other system-related errors. In native format, the event log files are viewable only in the Event Viewer Console. However, event logs can be exported from Event Viewer and imported into an Excel document. Once saved to Excel, the list of Event IDs can be sorted and analyzed as needed.
Open Event Viewer and Export logs to CSV file
Step 1
Right-click the "Computer" icon on the desktop. If the "Computer" icon is not on the desktop, click the "Start" button to locate the "Computer" icon from within the Start Menu programs.
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Step 2
Click "Manage" from the options box to open the Computer Management Tools console.
Step 3
Click the right-facing arrow in front of the group "Event Viewer" to open the available Event Viewer logs.
Step 4
Right-click the log to be exported, such as the "Security event log." From the available options, click "Save all Events as… ."
Step 5
Click the down arrow in the "Save as type:" box and select "CSV (Comma Separated Value) (*CSV)."
Step 6
Click in the "File name:" box and type a file name and save location for the file. For example: "c:\SecurityEventLog" will save the file called SecurityEventLog and place it on the C: drive.
Step 7
Click "Save" to save the CSV file to the C: drive.
Step 8
Close the Computer Management Console by clicking the "X" in the upper right-hand corner of the console box.
Open CSV File in Excel and Sort by Event ID
Step 1
Open Microsoft Excel by clicking "Start," "All Programs," "Microsoft Office" and "Microsoft Office Excel."
Step 2
Click the "Office" button in the upper left-hand corner of the Excel application and click "Open."
Step 3
Type "C:\SecurityEventLog.cvs" in the "file name:" box and click "Open" to start the Text Import Wizard.
Step 4
Select "Delimited" on the first page of the Text Import Wizard and click "Next."
Step 5
Select "Comma" and deselect "Tab" under the Delimiters options and click "Next."
Step 6
Select "General" under the Column data format box and click "Finish" to open the Event Viewer log in Excel.
Step 7
Click on the "Event ID" column heading to highlight the entire column of Event IDs.
Step 8
Click "Data" from the menu options at the top of the Excel application.
Step 9
Click "Sort" from the Data menu tab, select "Expand the selection" when the Sort Warning box appears and click "Sort."
Step 10
Click "Event ID" in the "Sort by" drop-down box, specify the sort order by selecting from the available options under the "Order" drop-down box and click "OK."
Step 11
Review the list of Windows event IDs in Excel and save the file for future use.
Tip
The account used to view and export logs from the Event Viewer must have administrator privileges on the computer.