Converting manifest file into metadata for visualization?

[barakdror]

Hello,

I reached the visualization step of the post-dada2 phase of my seqs.
Since I already have multiplexed files I used a manifest.txt file to create a single qza artifact with all of the 8 samples. I ran the dada2 method, and now would like to use this command:

qiime feature-table summarize \
--i-table table.qza
--o-visualization table.qzv
--m-sample-metadata-file manifest.txt

However, it seems that the --m sample-metadata-file do not accept the manifest file as a metadata, and I get this error:

There was an issue with loading the file manifest.txt as metadata:
Invalid characters (e.g. '/', '\x00', '\', '*', '<', '>', '?', '|', '$') or empty ID detected in metadata index: 'BS3,/home/eddie/Barak/banana/eddie_single_end/BS3.fastq,forward'. There may be more errors present in this metadata. Sample/feature metadata files can be validated using Keemei: http://keemei.qiime.org

I do understand the literal meaning of the error, but how can I create a metadata file in Excel that will correspond to the manifest file, so I won't lose any information and that will match my table.qza file?

Attached is my manifest.txt file.
Thank you!
Barakmanifest.txt (624 Bytes)

[thermokarst (Matthew Ryan Dillon)]

Hi @barakdror! The manifest file is a format used for importing sequence data - it is not what we consider in QIIME 2 to be “Metadata.” For an overview of Metadata, and the TSV file format for specifying sample and feature metadata, please check out the Metadata Tutorial.

but how can I create a metadata file in Excel

The section in the Metadata Tutorial titled “Metadata from a text file” contains the basic information for preparing a Metadata file - as well, the Moving Pictures tutorial (and many others as well) has a Sample Metadata TSV file that you could download and inspect for reference.

If you haven’t had a chance yet to work through the “Getting Started” guide, I highly recommend it!

Good luck and keep on QIIMEing!