There are two ways to import data from a text file with Excel: you can open it in Excel, or you can import it as an external data range. To export data from Excel to a text file, use the Save As command and change the file type from the drop-down menu.
There are two commonly used text file formats:
- Delimited text files (.txt), in which the TAB character (ASCII character code 009) typically separates each field of text.
- Comma separated values text files (.csv), in which the comma character (,) typically separates each field of text.
You can change the separator character that is used in both delimited and .csv text files. This may be necessary to make sure that the import or export operation works the way that you want it to.
Import a text file by opening it in Excel
You can open a text file that you created in another program as an Excel workbook by using the Open command. Opening a text file in Excel does not change the format of the file — you can see this in the Excel title bar, where the name of the file retains the text file name extension (for example, .txt or .csv).
- Go to File > Open and browse to the location that contains the text file.
- Select Text Files in the file type dropdown list in the Open dialog box.
- Locate and double-click the text file that you want to open.
- If the file is a text file (.txt), Excel starts the Import Text Wizard. When you are done with the steps, click Finish to complete the import operation. See Text Import Wizard for more information about delimiters and advanced options.
- If the file is a .csv file, Excel automatically opens the text file and displays the data in a new workbook.Note: When Excel opens a .csv file, it uses the current default data format settings to interpret how to import each column of data. If you want more flexibility in converting columns to different data formats, you can use the Import Text Wizard. For example, the format of a data column in the .csv file may be MDY, but Excel's default data format is YMD, or you want to convert a column of numbers that contains leading zeros to text so you can preserve the leading zeros. To force Excel to run the Import Text Wizard, you can change the file name extension from .csv to .txt before you open it, or you can import a text file by connecting to it (for more information, see the following section).
Import a text file by connecting to it
![Open aspx file in excel Open aspx file in excel](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AzR4hjT0Tz0/VnrnidvXx3I/AAAAAAAAND4/jfINNjnlBYs/s1600/how%2Bto%2Bchange%2Bextension%2Bof%2Bfile%2Bin%2Bwindows.jpg)
- Click the cell where you want to put the data from the text file.
- On the Data tab, in the Get & Transform Data group, click From Text/CSV.
- In the Import Data dialog box, locate and double-click the text file that you want to import, and click Import.
- In the Power Query dialog box, you have one of two options:
- In the Import Data dialog box, do the following:
- Click Load if you want to load the data to the current spreadsheet.
- Click Load to if you want to load the data to a table, PivotTable report, PivotChart, a new Excel worksheet, existing worksheet, or simply create a connection.
- In the Import Data dialog box, select an option where you want to view the data.
- Click OK.
- Click OK.Excel puts the external data range in the location that you specify.
Export data to a text file by saving it
- Go to File > Save As.
- Click Browse.
- In the Save As dialog box, under Save as type box, choose the text file format for the worksheet; for example, click Text (Tab delimited) or CSV (Comma delimited).Note: The different formats support different feature sets. For more information about the feature sets that are supported by the different text file formats, see File formats that are supported in Excel.
- Browse to the location where you want to save the new text file, and then click Save.
- A dialog box appears, reminding you that only the current worksheet will be saved to the new file. If you are certain that the current worksheet is the one that you want to save as a text file, click OK. You can save other worksheets as separate text files by repeating this procedure for each worksheet.You may also see an alert below the ribbon that some features might be lost if you save the workbook in a CSV format.
Import a text file by connecting to it
- Click the cell where you want to put the data from the text file.
- On the Data tab, in the Get External Data group, click From Text.
- In the Import Data dialog box, locate and double-click the text file that you want to import, and click Import.Follow the instructions in the Text Import Wizard. Click Help on any page of the Text Import Wizard for more information about using the wizard. When you are done with the steps in the wizard, click Finish to complete the import operation.
- In the Import Data dialog box, do the following:
- Under Where do you want to put the data?, do one of the following:
- To return the data to the location that you selected, click Existing worksheet.
- To return the data to the upper-left corner of a new worksheet, click New worksheet.
- Optionally, click Properties to set refresh, formatting, and layout options for the imported data.
- Click OK.Excel puts the external data range in the location that you specify.
Export data to a text file by saving it
- Go to File > Save As.
- The Save As dialog box appears.
- In the Save as type box, choose the text file format for the worksheet.
- For example, click Text (Tab delimited) or CSV (Comma delimited).
- Note: The different formats support different feature sets. For more information about the feature sets that are supported by the different text file formats, see File formats that are supported in Excel.
- Browse to the location where you want to save the new text file, and then click Save.
- A dialog box appears, reminding you that only the current worksheet will be saved to the new file. If you are certain that the current worksheet is the one that you want to save as a text file, click OK. You can save other worksheets as separate text files by repeating this procedure for each worksheet.
- A second dialog box appears, reminding you that your worksheet may contain features that are not supported by text file formats. If you are interested only in saving the worksheet data into the new text file, click Yes. If you are unsure and would like to know more about which Excel features are not supported by text file formats, click Help for more information.
Change the delimiter that is used in a text file
Change the separator in all .csv text files
- In Microsoft Windows, click the Start button, and then click Control Panel.
- Open the dialog box for changing Regional and Language settings.
- Type a new separator in the List separator box.
- Click OK twice.
Need more help?
You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community, get support in the Answers community, or suggest a new feature or improvement on Excel User Voice.