Microsoft KB Archive/95427

= Microsoft Knowledge Base =

Excel: Quotation Marks Missing from Imported Text File
Last reviewed: September 12, 1996

Article ID: Q95427

The information in this article applies to:


 * Microsoft Excel for Windows, version 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a
 * Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, version 3.0, 4.0

SUMMARY
In Microsoft Excel, when you open a text file that contains fields enclosed in quotation marks, the first set of quotation marks may be striped from the text.

Microsoft Excel Version 4.0
To retain the quotation marks when you open the file, do the following:


 * 1) From the File menu, choose Open.
 * 2) Choose the Text button.
 * 3) In the Text File Options dialog box, under Column Delimiter, select None and choose the OK button.
 * 4) Open your file and choose the OK button.

Your file will be opened with all the quotation marks displayed. To parse the data, choose Parse from the Data menu; you can also use the Smart Parse command by loading the add-in macro FLATFILE.XLA (if you are using Windows) or FLAT FILE (if you are using a Macintosh computer).

Microsoft Excel Version 3.0
This version of Microsoft Excel does not include a tool for retaining the first set of quotation marks when the file is opened. If you want the quotation marks to be displayed, either manually edit the cells and add the quotation marks or create a macro that will use a looping structure to go down the first column of cells and add quotation marks around the cell entry.