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Excel - Getting Started with Importing Text Files Into Excel - Episode 457

852 views · Published 4 June 2009 · 2:54 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: MrExcel.com · 2009 · Education

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Microsoft Excel Tutorial - Getting Started with Importing Text Files Into Excel.

Welcome back to the MrExcel netcast where we discuss all things Excel. I'm Bill Jelen and in today's episode, we will be diving into the world of text files. Specifically, we will be discussing how to import text files into Excel. This is a common task that many Excel users encounter and it can be a bit complicated, so I will be breaking it down step by step.

The first thing you need to determine is whether the text file you have is fixed-width or delimited. Let me explain the difference between the two. A fixed-width file is typically created by old COBOL programs where the programmer specifies a certain number of characters for each field. If a field does not have enough characters, it is filled with spaces. You can easily identify a fixed-width file by opening it in Notepad and noticing that each column is perfectly aligned. On the other hand, a delimited file uses a specific character, such as a comma or semicolon, to separate each field. These files are more common nowadays and can be easily imported into Excel.

Now, here's where it can get a bit tricky. If you open a delimited file in a program like Word, you may notice that the columns are not perfectly aligned. This is because modern computers use proportional fonts, which means that each character takes up a different amount of space. To properly view a delimited file, you need to open it in a fixed-width font, such as "Courier" or "Courier New". In tomorrow's netcast, we will go through the steps of importing a fixed-width file into Excel.

I hope this video has been helpful in understanding the difference between fixed-width and delimited text files. Stay tuned for tomorrow's episode where we will continue our discussion on importing text files into Excel. Don't forget to like and subscribe to our channel for more Excel tips and tricks. Thanks for watching and we'll see you in the next video!

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If you need to import a text file into Excel, you will need to use the text to columns wizard. Before you start importing text, you need to figure out if your dataset is fixed width or delimited. Episode 457 will explain the difference.

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Table of Contents:
(00:00) Introduction 
(00:15) Importing text files into Excel 
(00:25) Understanding fixed-width and delimited files 
(00:36) Identifying fixed-width files 
(01:01) Identifying delimited files 
(01:38) Importing either type of file 
(01:48) Potential issue with viewing files in Word 
(02:09) Viewing files in a fixed-width font 
(02:23) Tomorrow's topic: importing fixed-width files into Excel 
(02:35) Clicking Like really helps the algorithm

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