How to Download Data from the Bloomberg Terminal

Author: Chengbo Fu

Department of Accounting and Finance

This tutorial demonstrates how to download data from the Bloomberg terminal. It consists

of two parts. Part I explains how to use the export function, and Part II explains how to use

the add-in in Microsoft Excel. An example of downloading the historical price of Apple

Inc. (AAPL) is provided. By following the steps below, you will learn a fundamental and

useful skill towards your coursework and research.

I. The Export Function in Bloomberg

a) Before you start, make sure that Bloomberg Office Add-Ins is activated. It can be

found by searching in the Windows system.

b) Click Install to activate the Bloomberg Office Add-Ins.

c) Make sure the Add-Ins is activated successfully. Then click OK.

d) Now log in to the Bloomberg Terminal with your login name and password.

Bloomberg may verify your identification via an email or text message in this step.

e) In the search box above, input the ticker symbol “AAPL” for Apple stock. Select

“AAPL US Equity.” Bloomberg provides a powerful search function. You can

input ticker, security type, or company name in the search box and it will return a

list of relevant results.

f) In the main menu of Apple Inc., click (17) Charting & Reporting for the historical

price. Other options also provide useful information for analysis of this security.

g) Under Charting & Reporting, you can click (17) HP Historical Price Table to see

the historical price of the stock.

h) You can change the date range, period, market file, and currency as you want. In

this case, the daily price and volume of Apple stock between 08/04/2016 and

08/04/2017 is selected. The last price and volume of the security are selected by

default. You can change volume to other fields if you want to. Then click (96)

Export to Excel.

i) The data will be exported into an Excel file. You can adjust the width of columns to

display the data. Now the data are linked to Bloomberg (which means the data will

not be available in a computer without access to Bloomberg). If you click on a date,

you will see an Excel function that links this data to Bloomberg in the top right box.

Highlight all the data, then copy and paste it to a new worksheet.

j) In a new worksheet, right click and choose the paste option “Values & Number

Formatting.”

k) The data in this worksheet are now de-linked from Bloomberg. As a check, click on

a date and you will see the date instead of a function in the top right box. Now you

can use this data on another computer.

II. Import in Microsoft Excel

a) Before you import data from Bloomberg, make sure that you have logged in to

Bloomberg, and that Office Add-Ins is activated. Open a new Excel file and click

on the Bloomberg tab.

b) Under the Bloomberg tab, choose Import Data.

c) Now choose Real-Time/ Historical and then choose Historical End of Day. Then

open the Bloomberg Data Wizard- History.

d) Add the security by inputting the ticker symbol (AAPL). You will see the security in

the selected box on the right side. Then click next.

e) Search and add the field you are interested in. You will see the field in the selected

box on the right side. For example, you can search “price” and then you can add

“Last Price.” Then click next.

f) Choose the periodicity and time frame for your data. For example, you can choose

monthly data from 04/07/2016 to 04/08/2017. Then click next.

g) Set history parameters. Then click next.

h) Set the pricing defaults (keep the default setting in most cases). Then click next.

i) Choose layout options and then click finish. Choose a new worksheet for data import.

j) You are almost finished. All you have to do is highlight all the data, then copy and

paste it to a new worksheet so that the data can be used in another computer. See step

(i) to (k) in part I above.

k) In a new worksheet, choose the paste option “Values & Number Formatting.”

l) As a check, click on a date and you will see the date instead of a function in the top

right box. You will find that the data are now de-linked from Bloomberg.