Importing delimited file into Access

[Andre T.]

Hi,

I've been trying to import a tab delimited file into Access. Unfortunately
it doesn't have a file extension recognized by Access. I tried to use
specification but it allows up to only 14 fields. Currently I told the
users to open the file in Excel as tab delimited and save it as xls file.
The Access program then imports the Excel file in. Is there any way I can
import this tab delimited file into Access directly?

Your advices and comments are appreciated.

Andre T.

 

[Allen Browne]

You can import the tab delimited file into Access.
Rename it (Name statement) so it has an extension of .txt or .csv.

You can also use an import spec. with more than 14 fields.
Access looks at the first few rows to determine how may fields it needs.
Include a row near the top that has values in subsequent columns, and it
should recognise the data and import it.

 

[Andre T.]

Hi, Allen -

Thanks for your suggestions. I don't want to rename the file cause it may
get users confused. I can't move the big row to the top cause that's the
way it is. Is there any other alternatives importing directly from the tab
delimited file?

Thanks for your advice,
Andre T.

 

[Allen Browne]

--
Allen Browne - Microsoft MVP. Perth, Western Australia.

Reply to the newsgroup. (Email address has spurious "_SpamTrap")

 

[Allen Browne]

Presumably this file gest imported regularly, so moving a big row to the top
is necessary only long enough to generate the import spec. Once you have the
spec, Access will do it correctly in future.

Access also used to be clever enough to figure out how to do a TransferTEXT
operation regardless of the file extension, but Microsoft broke it. You
could go back to Access 95 or an unpatched version of 97, but that's not
recommended. Other alternatives include assigning extensionless files to
text (WinAmp does that, so you may be able to see how), or making a copy of
the file with an extension (FileCopy) and importing that.