ImportWizard (Excel 97)

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Does there exist anywhere an alternative to the Import Wizard such that one gets a larger view of the stuff being prepared for import? I regularly get nailed when I can’t see down far enough, or get a wide enough view of my data. With my modestly-sized files it’s bad enough. Reading some file lengths cited in this Lounge would make the task Herculean. Am I wrong in feeling that the tiny, sub-postcard-size window is something of a problem? I’m hoping someone knows of an add-in or whatever it would be that could enable us to have a reasonably-scaled view of the data. Thanks to all.

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Torquemada

The View window on the Import Wizard is set and you can’t change it.

You can use some SQL/ODBC/ADO/MP3 to get the data you need formatted some how the way you need it.

Oh you are asking what is the MP3 doing, well I figured you would need some sort of music to calm you down during the process…

Wassim

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You could try Microsoft Query (Data / External Data / New Query). With this tool, you create queries on comma separated Text files, very much in the Access query style. Queries are especially useful, when you want to select data columns or data rows.
As far as I know, you cannot change formats, data are imported the way they are (there, the text import assistant is better) and queries do not work with fixed width data.

Doris

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That’s a good idea. I have not had occasion to get into the ODBC business but that may be the solution. The main issue there is setting up the interface, correct?

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It depends on what sort of file you import. If it is a text file, there is not much of a interface to set up. Just select the file. Then, in the query-by-example window drag the column headers and, if necessary, specify criteria. Exit and return with the data to Excel.
The setup process is more complex, but still straightforward, if you import from Access or another database application: Dialogs where you have to specify datasource, ODBC driver .. but finally the same query-by-example window.
Doris

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I agree, that itty-bitty view makes parsing large data files a chore. Even if you resign yourself to the tedium of scrolling through the whole file, it’s easy to scroll too fast and miss the one or two oddities or the chunk 2/3rds down that can throw off your parsing.

An option worth considering: try opening the data file first in a basic text editor (that can handle the file size, unlike Notepad). Set the font for the entire file to a monospace font like Courier or Courier New and make sure wrapping is turned off if those are options.

That’s one of the things I love FoxPro for, an unexpected surprise in a database development platform: it has a killer text editor. I can open up a 200,000-record file, scroll through it without any hesitation to determine where to place parse breaks, carve it into Excel-manageable chunks, and after parsing the first chunk, simply Edit | Repeat the process.

Thanks for tolerating my babble,

JohnJ

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Sometimes you can import the file into a single column (A) and then use the Text-To-Columns command from the Data menu. You can do this for different sections of your data by selecting them separately. Note that unless you’re careful, the first cell starts in column A on top of the original instead of in column B.

Ruth

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