WinCC Alarm Logging: Importing and Exporting Messages via Excel

Overview

Siemens SIMATIC WinCC Alarm Logging provides a centralized engine for bit, analog, and message-number-driven alarms. When a project grows beyond a few dozen messages, manually typing each row in the Alarm Logging editor becomes a productivity bottleneck. Engineers routinely need to add, modify, and replicate hundreds of messages that share prefix structures (for example, "MIXER_01_LEVEL_HIGH"), linked bit tags, and identical message classes. WinCC provides several supported paths to bulk-edit these rows: native .TXT round-trip, a .CSV intermediate workflow, the WinCC Configuration Tool (a Smart Tools component), direct Excel import on WinCC V7.2 SP1 and later, and the WinCC Mass Data Tool add-in. Each method has prerequisites around Excel version, WinCC service pack level, and project state (runtime must be deactivated during import). This reference walks through every method, lists the message procedure types that participate in round-trip editing, and includes a troubleshooting matrix for the most common failure modes (for example, the Export button appearing inactive, or a CSV that imports with the wrong trigger tags).

Prerequisites

Before modifying alarms in bulk, confirm the following on the engineering station:

• WinCC V7.0 SP3, V7.2, V7.3, V7.4, or V7.5 installed. V7.2 and later are required for direct Excel import/export. V7.0 and V7.0 SP1 use the .TXT round-trip only.
• Microsoft Excel 2003 (32-bit) for the WinCC Mass Data Tool add-in, or Excel 2007/2010/2013/2016 (32 or 64-bit) for direct WinCC V7.2 import.
• WinCC project closed and WinCC Explorer not running during .TXT or .CSV import.
• WinCC Runtime deactivated. The Alarm Logging service locks the database while the runtime is active.
• Read/write permission to the WinCC project directory (typically \<ProjectName>\GraCS\ and the alarm logging backend under \<ProjectName>\ALG\).
• For the WinCC Configuration Tool: install the "Smart Tools" option from the WinCC installation DVD/media, then run WinCC Configuration Tool.exe from the Smart Tools start menu folder.

Understanding the Alarm Logging Editor

WinCC Alarm Logging is built on the SIMATIC message system. The editor exposes a tabular view where each row defines one message with the following columns (column order varies slightly by WinCC version):

For the underlying message procedures supported by Alarm Logging, see the SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.0 SP1 Message System manual, which documents bit message procedure, analog message procedure, message number procedure, and limit value monitoring as the four core types.

SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.0 SP1 - Message System manual

Method 1: Native TXT Export/Import Round-Trip

The default WinCC Alarm Logging editor includes Export and Import buttons on the toolbar. This method is available on every WinCC V7 release and is the most conservative path because it uses the same column semantics as the editor itself.

Step-by-Step: Export

1. Open WinCC Explorer on the engineering station.
2. In the navigation tree, right-click Alarm Logging and select Open.
3. In the Alarm Logging editor, click the Select Messages icon and choose All Messages (or use Shift+Click / Ctrl+Click to select a subset).
4. From the File menu, choose Export.
5. In the dialog, navigate to a writable directory, set Save as type to Text File (*.txt), and provide a file name (e.g., AlarmExport_20240115.txt).
6. Click Save. The .TXT file is written with tab- or semicolon-delimited columns matching the editor layout.

Step-by-Step: Edit in Excel

1. Launch Microsoft Excel.
2. Use File → Open, change the file type to Text Files (*.prn; *.txt; *.csv), and select the exported .TXT file.
3. In the Text Import Wizard, choose Delimited, click Next, set the delimiter to Tab (the default for WinCC export), and click Finish.
4. Edit the rows. Keep the column header row intact. Do not insert new columns. New alarm numbers must be unique and must not collide with existing numbers already in the project.
5. Use Excel's Fill Down and Find and Replace to bulk-modify the Trigger Tag column (for example, replacing a placeholder with a real tag name) or to apply a common Message Text template to a range of rows.
6. Save the file. When prompted about keeping the current format, choose Keep Current Format to retain the .TXT extension. If Excel forces a .CSV save, save it as .CSV first, then rename the file extension back to .TXT in Windows Explorer.

Step-by-Step: Import

1. Return to the Alarm Logging editor in WinCC Explorer.
2. Close any open selection, then choose File → Import.
3. Select the edited .TXT file. WinCC parses the rows, validates message numbers and trigger tags, and prompts if it detects conflicts with existing messages.
4. Click Import. New rows are appended. Existing rows with matching numbers are overwritten.

Method 2: CSV Intermediate Workflow

Several engineering teams find that direct .TXT editing in Excel is awkward because the field separators are inconsistent across WinCC versions. The documented workaround is to export to .TXT, rename to .CSV, edit, save, then rename back to .TXT before import. This ensures Excel always opens the file in a predictable Delimited mode and prevents Excel from coercing leading zeros in trigger tag or message number columns.

CSV Workflow Procedure

1. Export as .TXT per Method 1.
2. In Windows Explorer, rename AlarmExport.txt to AlarmExport.csv.
3. Open the .CSV in Excel, edit, and save (Excel saves in its native CSV format with UTF-8).
4. Rename back to AlarmExport.txt.
5. Import into WinCC Alarm Logging per Method 1, Step 3.

This method is the one most commonly cited in the Siemens support community for engineers running WinCC V7.0 / V7.0 SP1 who do not yet have the V7.2 Excel importer. It is supported because the underlying parser only inspects the column structure, not the file extension.

Method 3: WinCC Configuration Tool (Smart Tools)

Siemens ships a separate utility called the WinCC Configuration Tool as part of the "Smart Tools" option on the WinCC installation media. This tool exposes alarms, tags, structure tags, and tag logging through a single Microsoft Excel-based interface. It is intended for offline configuration and bulk generation of WinCC databases, and it is particularly useful when a project is being migrated from PCS 7 or re-engineered from a spreadsheet specification.

Installation

1. Insert the WinCC installation DVD (or mount the ISO).
2. Run Setup.exe and select Custom Installation.
3. Expand the Smart Tools node.
4. Check WinCC Configuration Tool and complete the install.
5. The tool is launched from Start → Siemens Automation → Smart Tools → WinCC Configuration Tool.

Workflow

1. Open the WinCC Configuration Tool. It opens an Excel workbook with named worksheets for Tags, Structure Tags, Alarm Logging, and Tag Logging.
2. Configure the connection to the target WinCC project on the Settings sheet (project path, server name).
3. Switch to the Alarm Logging sheet. Each row is a message with the same columns as the native editor.
4. Edit, paste from a master spreadsheet, or import from a pre-existing .XLSX that engineering has maintained.
5. Click Transfer to WinCC to push the rows into the project. The tool validates trigger tags against the configured Tag Management before committing.

Method 4: Direct Excel Import on WinCC V7.2 and Later

Starting with WinCC V7.2 SP1, the Alarm Logging editor includes a native Import from Excel option that reads .xlsx files directly without the .TXT round-trip. This eliminates the encoding pitfalls of the legacy .TXT workflow. The importer maps Excel column headers (Number, Class, Type, Trigger Tag, Trigger Bit, Message Text, etc.) to internal WinCC fields.

For complete step-by-step documentation, see the Siemens support article "How do you import and export messages of the WinCC Alarm Logging in Microsoft Excel?" referenced in the Additional information section of the SIMATIC WinCC Knowledge Base (article ID 68077948).

Workflow

1. Open Alarm Logging in WinCC Explorer.
2. Choose File → Import from Excel.
3. Select a pre-formatted .XLSX file. The importer reads the first worksheet, treats row 1 as the header, and uses row 2 onwards as data.
4. Map columns if the importer prompts (for example, if your header is in a non-English locale).
5. Click Import. New rows are appended; conflicts are reported in a log window.

Method 5: WinCC Mass Data Tool (Excel 2003 Add-In)

The WinCC Mass Data Tool is a dedicated Excel 2003 add-in that automates mass creation of tags, alarms, and tag logging entries. It is the historical bulk-configuration tool and remains widely deployed in plants with Excel 2003 still installed for compatibility reasons.

Installation and Use

1. Confirm Excel 2003 (32-bit) is installed. The add-in does not load on Excel 2007+ or on 64-bit Excel.
2. Run the WinCC Setup, select Custom Installation, and tick the WinCC Mass Data component.
3. Launch Excel 2003. The add-in adds a "WinCC Mass Data" toolbar/menu.
4. Open the Alarm worksheet. Configure the project path under WinCC → Project Settings.
5. Fill in alarm rows. Use WinCC → Generate Alarms to write them into the WinCC project.

The Mass Data Tool also supports tag generation, which is useful when you want to derive both tags and alarms from a single I/O list (for example, an Excel export of the PLC symbol table).

Method Comparison

Alarm Message Procedures in WinCC

Understanding the message procedure is essential because the import validation behaves differently for each type. The four procedures documented in the SIMATIC HMI WinCC V7.0 SP1 Message System manual are:

1. Bit message procedure - A boolean trigger tag (or a bit within a word/DWORD) raises and clears the message. This is the most common procedure and is fully supported by all import methods.
2. Analog message procedure - A floating-point tag value is compared against limit (high/low) values; a message is raised when a limit is exceeded. The trigger tag is the analog value; the limit value column is the threshold.
3. Message number procedure - The PLC pushes a structured message (with a 16-bit message number and optional accompanying process values) into a configured area of WinCC. The trigger tag in the Alarm Logging editor is the data block or raw tag that the PLC writes to.
4. Limit value monitoring of tags - WinCC itself polls a tag's value against a configured threshold and raises the message without PLC-side logic. Useful for pure HMI-side monitoring.

When importing, the Trigger Tag column must reference a tag that already exists in WinCC Tag Management. If the trigger tag is missing, the import may either reject the row or insert it with a broken reference, depending on WinCC version. Always validate tag names after a bulk import by opening the Alarm Logging editor and sorting by the Trigger Tag column.

WinCC Unified Alarm Logging (TIA Portal V20)

For TIA Portal projects running WinCC Unified RT, alarm logging is configured under Runtime settings → Alarms. WinCC Unified splits configuration into alarm classes, alarm groups, and discrete alarm definitions, and supports XML-based export/import. An alarm log persists triggered alarms to a database (SQLite or Microsoft SQL, depending on project size) for later analysis.

The configuration flow is documented at the official WinCC Unified help portal.

Basics of alarm logging (RT Unified) - WinCC Unified V20

Bulk editing in WinCC Unified is performed via the TIA Portal "Export/Import" function under the HMI device's alarm configuration. The exported file is an XML, not a .TXT/.CSV, so the legacy workflows described above do not apply directly.

Verification Steps After a Bulk Import

After any of the methods above, run the following verification before activating the runtime:

1. Row count check: Compare the total message count in the Alarm Logging editor against the source file. The status bar at the bottom of the editor shows the row count.
2. Trigger tag validation: Sort by Trigger Tag and verify that every row references an existing tag. Rows with broken references are highlighted with a warning icon in V7.3+.
3. Compile project: In WinCC Explorer, right-click the project and choose Compile / Check. Compilation surfaces syntax errors, duplicate message numbers, and tag mismatches.
4. Activate runtime in test mode: Start the runtime on the engineering station with the Simulation option if available, and force-trigger a few alarms by toggling the trigger tag in the Tag Simulator.
5. Check the alarm log: Open the Alarm Control in a test picture and confirm that incoming alarms display the expected message text and message class.

Troubleshooting Matrix

Platform-Specific Notes

AutomationDirect C-more HMI

While not a WinCC workflow, the broader question of "alarm logging in HMIs" includes non-Siemens platforms. The AutomationDirect C-more HMI provides three configurable alarm UI objects: the alarm banner, the alarm list object, and the alarm screen. Each alarm row can be flagged as requiring operator confirmation. C-more does not support .TXT round-trip import; configuration is performed through the C-more programming software and stored in the panel project file.

C-more HMI Alarm Data Logging video - AutomationDirect

Ignition by Inductive Automation

Modern SCADA platforms such as Ignition treat alarm tags as a special tag class. Bit-based alarm tags can be logged "on change" for the alarm history. To support multiple records for simultaneous bit transitions, Ignition recommends enabling "Multiple Active States" or using a separate tag for each bit. The import/export model is XML-based via the Ignition gateway, not a .TXT round-trip.

Best Practices

• Maintain a single source of truth for alarms in a controlled Excel workbook, then push it into WinCC on every release.
• Use structured naming conventions for trigger tags (e.g., AREA_A_PUMP_01_FAULT) so the bulk replacement of prefix strings in Excel becomes a one-step Find-and-Replace.
• Deactivate the WinCC runtime before any import. The Alarm Logging backend locks the database while the runtime is active.
• Use version-controlled WinCC projects in conjunction with a backup before any bulk import.
• Reserve the Mass Data Tool for projects that still have Excel 2003 deployed; otherwise prefer the WinCC Configuration Tool or the V7.2 direct Excel import.
• Validate trigger tags after import by sorting the Alarm Logging editor by Trigger Tag and checking for empty or red-highlighted cells.

FAQ