importing fixed width text files into Excel

N

nancy

How can I save a profile for a fixed width text file? I will be importing
the same type of file over and over and do not want to go through the process
of manually setting the columns each time.
I believe that in a previous version there was an 'advanced' button on the
first page of the import wizard that allowed you to set up and save fixed
width profiles. What happened to it or what replaced it? Thanks
 
H

Harlan Grove

nancy said:
I believe that in a previous version there was an 'advanced' button
on the first page of the import wizard that allowed you to set up
and save fixed width profiles.  What happened to it or what
replaced it? Thanks
Click to expand...

I've used every Windows version from Excel 2.0x in the late 1980s
through 2007 as well as Excel 2004 and 2008 on Macs. None of those
versions ever provided a facility to save fixed width text parsing
settings. Maybe you're remembering something from a different
spreadsheet program (IIRC, Lotus Symphony's spreadsheet - the orignal
Symphony, not the new OpenOffice derivative - provided named text
parsing configurations).

Why not use a macro? Record running Text to Columns, then add file
opening to the macro. If you need help with that, you'd be far better
off posting questions on Excel in Excel-specific newsgroups.
 
B

Beth Melton

nancy said:
How can I save a profile for a fixed width text file? I will be importing
the same type of file over and over and do not want to go through the
process
of manually setting the columns each time.
I believe that in a previous version there was an 'advanced' button on the
first page of the import wizard that allowed you to set up and save fixed
width profiles. What happened to it or what replaced it? Thanks
Click to expand...

If you are referring to Excel 2007 then take a look at the last step of the
Import Wizard on the right side near the top.

--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile/Melton
What is a Microsoft MVP? http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/gp/mvpfaqs

Guides for the Office 2007 Interface:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/training/HA102295841033.aspx
 
B

Beth Melton

Please disregard. As Harlan noted, the Save Export Specifications feature
isn't available in Excel. I suspect Nancy was referring to Access, which is
what I was thinking of too.

~Beth Melton
 
J

Joseph Meehan

In Access yes (at least the older versions as I recall) but I can't say
about Excel.
 
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