How to export Empower data as AIA .cdf and open it without Empower

Waters Empower stores raw data in its own database. What it can write out for other software is an AIA (ANDI) .cdf file, the vendor-neutral exchange format. Once you have one, Nagura Lab opens it in your browser without Empower.

Export raw data from Empower as .cdf

Empower needs an export method that is set to write AIA files. You make it once and reuse it. These steps follow the Waters knowledge base articles WKB65425 and WKB26380; menus can differ slightly between Empower versions.

1. In the Project window, choose File > New Method > Export Method. The Export Method editor opens.
2. Open the Raw Data tab.
3. Type a file name of up to 32 characters. At export time Empower adds four more characters, an ID from the database, to the end of the name.
4. Tick AIA and File, and choose the folder the files should be written to.
5. Save the export method under a name you will recognize.
6. On the Results tab, select the results you want, right-click and choose Export, then pick the export method you just made.
7. The .cdf files are in the folder you chose.

Waters notes that an AIA export does not contain Empower's processing or methods, and that numeric precision and rounding can differ from Empower. It is fine for looking at the data, not for acceptance testing. To compare numbers between systems, Waters recommends exporting peak tables with an ASCII export method instead.

Open the .cdf file

1. Open Nagura Lab and drop one or more .cdf files on the page, or use Open data and pick Files.
2. The chromatogram is plotted against time in minutes, with the sample name and date in the run list. Tick several runs to overlay them (up to eight).
3. Download CSV gives the plotted traces in columns, Download PNG gives the figure.

The file is decoded on your computer and never uploaded. For what an AIA file contains, what is supported and a Python example, see the general .cdf guide.

What to expect

• The signal, not the processing. You get the raw detector trace. Waters states the export holds no Empower processing or methods.

What this does not replace

• Integration and quantitation. Nagura Lab shows and exports the signal; it does not replace Empower or your validated data system.
• Regulated work. Do not use an exported copy as the record for acceptance testing or other regulated decisions.