set column width using character spaces
 

Hi there,

I hope this doesn't turn out to be a silly question.

Is there a way to set a defined column width based on character spaces
rather than measurement? I'm creating a form template that when saved as a
..txt file from the Excel file will have a specific number of spaces between
each column.

Any ideas? All help is appreciated!

Super cool regards,

Troy

set column width using character spaces
 

There's a limit of 240 characters per line when you save as .prn files. So if
your data wouldn't create a record that was longer than 240 characters, you can
save the file as .prn.

I like to use a fixed width font (courier new) and adjust the column widths
manually. But this can take a while to get it perfect. (Save it, check the
output in a text editor, back to excel, adjust, save, and recheck in that text
editor. Lather, rinse, and repeat!)

Alternatively, you could concatenate the cell values into another column:

=LEFT(A1&REPT(" ",5),5) & LEFT(B1&REPT(" ",4),4) & TEXT(C1,"000,000.00")

(You'll have to modify it to match what you want.)

Drag it down the column to get all that fixed width stuff.

Then I'd copy and paste to notepad and save from there. Once I figured out that
ugly formula, I kept it and just unhide that column when I wanted to export the
data.

If that doesn't work for you, maybe you could do it with a macro.

Here's a link that provides a macro:
http://google.com/groups?threadm=015...0a% 40phx.gbl

Troy | yorT wrote:

Hi there,

I hope this doesn't turn out to be a silly question.

Is there a way to set a defined column width based on character spaces
rather than measurement? I'm creating a form template that when saved as a
.txt file from the Excel file will have a specific number of spaces between
each column.

Any ideas? All help is appreciated!

Super cool regards,

Troy

--

Dave Peterson

set column width using character spaces
 

Dave,

that was 2003 - how do you remember what you have posted that far back?

Pete

set column width using character spaces
 

It comes up quite a bit and I've pointed to that post a few/lots of times.

Pete_UK wrote:

Dave,

that was 2003 - how do you remember what you have posted that far back?

Pete

--

Dave Peterson