In addition to the normal .SAV file format, SPSS has also a portable format (portable between all past SPSS versions and specific operating systems); frequently used by data archives and other data providers to disseminate data (internet, storage media).

If you end up with a SPSS portable file (.POR extension), to access the data you will have to:

1. If the downloaded files shows an SPSS icon, just double-click the file and SPSS should open. If this does not work, use the second possibility.
2. Alternatively, start up SPSS.
• Select SPSS portable (*.por) from Files of type
and then select your .por file.

When done

• Save your data editor to your permanent file space (by default SPSS will save it as a standard SPSS .SAV file).
• You then can delete the portable file and use the saved file for analysis.