How To Import Data Into an Excel Spreadsheet

If you have data from an alternative source, you may be able to import it into Excel 2010 instead of having to re-enter all the information again.  Depending on the type of data you would like to import, you can select from a number of options.  We’ll look at one of the most common import types – a text file.

1. Open the worksheet you would like to import the data to and select the cell where you would like to data import to start.
2. Click the Data tab and choose from the options in the Get External Data group.
   
   NOTE: For this example, we will import a text file.
3. Click From Text. This will allow text file types such as prn, txt and csv to be imported.
4. Browse to find the file you would like to import, select it and click Import.
   
5. The Text Import Wizard appears to guide you through the process of importing your data.
   
6. Select Delimited if the text contains a character such as a comma, tab, space or semi-colon to separate the various fields.  Otherwise select Fixed Width if there are a certain number of spaces between each field.
   NOTE: in this tutorial, we will be looking at the Delimited option.
7. A preview of the file is displayed below.  If you would like to start the import at a row other than 1, enter the selected row number in the Start import at row field.
8. Click Next.
9. Select type of character that separates the various fields.  You can select as many as are applicable.  If you would like to include your own characters that aren’t listed, select the Other checkbox and enter the specific character in the field provided.
   
   NOTE: If you have some fields where the selected delimiter appears several times in a row, you should select the Treat consecutive delimiters as one checkbox.  This ensures that you won’t have several blank fields where only the delimiter character was found.
10. A preview of the data in columns appears below, according to the delimiter selected. Click Next.
11. You now need to choose the format for each of the columns.  Select the column heading in the Data preview and then select a data type from the Column data format options.
    
    NOTE: If there are some columns that you don’t want to have included in the text to columns conversion, select the Do not import column (skip) option for the data type of those specific columns.
12. Once you have selected the data type for each column, click Finish.
13. Select where you would like the imported data to be in the workbook and click OK.
    
14. Your imported data will now appear in your selected worksheet.

That’s it for importing data into Excel 2010.  Hope you found it useful – don’t forget to take a look at some of the other tutorials about working in Excel 2010.

Also Read:

• 5 Tips for Data Manipulation in Excel
• Merge multiple excel files into a single spreadsheet – VBA
• 12 Basic Shortcuts That Will Make You An Excel Guru And Add Hours To Your Life