Text Import Wizard

Use the Text Import Wizard in Excel to import data from a text file into a worksheet. The Text Import Wizard examines the text file that you're importing and helps you ensure that the data is imported in the way that you want. 

Once enabled, go to the Data tab > Get & Transform Data > Get Data > Legacy Wizards > From Text (Legacy). Then, in the Import Text File dialog box, double-click the text file that you want to import, and the Text Import Wizard opens.

Step 1 of 3

Original data type If items in the text file are separated by tabs, colons, semicolons, spaces, or other characters, select Delimited. If all of the items in each column are the same length, select Fixed width.

Start import at row Type or select a row number to specify the first row of the data that you want to import.

File origin Select the character set that's used in the text file. In most cases, you can leave this setting at its default. If you know that the text file was created by using a different character set than the character set that you're using on your computer, change this setting to match that character set. For example, if your computer is set to use character set 1251 (Cyrillic, Windows), but you know that the file was produced by using character set 1252 (Western European, Windows), set File Origin to 1252.

Preview of file This box displays the text as it appears when it's separated into columns on the worksheet.

Step 2 of 3 (Delimited data)

Delimiters Select the character that separates values in your text file. If the character you want isn't listed, select the Other check box, and then type the character in the box with the cursor. These options aren't available if your data type is Fixed width.

Treat consecutive delimiters as one Select this check box if your data contains a delimiter of more than one character between data fields or if your data contains multiple custom delimiters.

Text qualifier Select the character that encloses values in your text file. When Excel encounters the text qualifier character, it imports all of the text that follows that character and precedes the next occurrence of that character as one value, even if the text contains a delimiter character. For example, if the delimiter is a comma (,) and the text qualifier is a quotation mark ("), Excel imports "Dallas, Texas" into one cell as Dallas, Texas. If you don't specify a character or specify the apostrophe (') as the text qualifier, Excel imports "Dallas, Texas" into two adjacent cells as "Dallas and Texas".

If the delimiter character occurs between text qualifiers, Excel omits the qualifiers in the imported value. If no delimiter character occurs between text qualifiers, Excel includes the qualifier character in the imported value. Hence, Excel imports "Dallas Texas" (using the quotation mark text qualifier) into one cell as "Dallas Texas".

Data preview Review the text in this box to verify that the text will be separated into columns on the worksheet as you want it.

Step 2 of 3 (Fixed width data)

Data preview Set field widths in this section. Select the preview window to set a column break, which is represented by a vertical line. Double-click a column break to remove it, or drag a column break to move it.

Step 3 of 3

Select the Advanced button to do one or more of the following tasks:

• Specify the type of decimal and thousands separators that the text file uses. When you import the data into Excel, the separators match those that are specified for your location in Regional and Language Options or Regional Settings (Windows Control Panel).
• Specify that one or more numeric values may contain a trailing minus sign.

Column data format Select the data format of the column that's selected in the Data preview section. If you don't want to import the selected column, select Do not import column (skip).

After you select a data format option for the selected column, the column heading under Data preview displays the format. If you select Date, select a date format in the Date box.

Choose the data format that closely matches the preview data so that Excel can convert the imported data correctly. For example:

• To convert a column of all currency number characters to the Excel Currency format, select General.
• To convert a column of all number characters to the Excel Text format, select Text.
• To convert a column of all date characters, each date in the order of year, month, and day, to the Excel Date format, select Date, and then select the date type of YMD in the Date box.

Excel imports the column as General if the conversion could yield unintended results. For example:

• If the column contains a mix of formats, such as alphabetical and numeric characters, Excel converts the column to General.
• If, in a column of dates, each date is in the order of year, month, and date, and you select Date along with a date type of MDY, Excel converts the column to General format. A column that contains date characters must closely match an Excel built-in date or custom date formats.

If Excel doesn't convert a column to the format that you want, you can convert the data after you import it.

• Convert numbers stored as text to numbers in Excel
• Convert dates stored as text to dates
• TEXT function
• VALUE function

When you select the options you want, select Finish to open the Import Data dialog and choose where to place your data.

Import Data

Set these options to control how the data import process runs, including what data connection properties to use and what file and range to populate with the imported data.

• The options under Select how you want to view this data in your workbook are available only if you have a Data Model prepared and select the option to add this import to that model (see the third item in this list).

• Specify a target workbook:

  • If you choose Existing Worksheet, select a cell in the sheet to place the first cell of imported data, or select a range.
  • Choose New Worksheet to import into a new worksheet (starting at cell A1).

• If you have a Data Model in place, select Add this data to the Data Model to include this import in the model. For more information, see Create a Data Model in Excel.
  Selecting this option unlocks the options under Select how you want to view this data in your workbook.

• Select Properties to set any External Data Range properties you want. For more information, see Manage external data ranges and their properties.

• Select OK when you're ready to finish importing your data.

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See also

About Power Query in Excel