+ Reply to Thread
Results 1 to 3 of 3

Text to Columns problem with large data sets and leading zeros

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-28-2023
    Location
    Alabama
    MS-Off Ver
    2016
    Posts
    1

    Angry Text to Columns problem with large data sets and leading zeros

    I have to take a column of unique 7 digit codes, some of which contain multiple leading zeros, which are listed in each row and separated only by semicolons. I need to expand this column into multiple columns, so each code has its own cell.

    I used Text to Columns to achieve this, and it seemed to work. BUT, my data set is very large, some cells contain 200 codes, and there are almost 1000 rows. Text to Columns is not allowing me to assign Text formatting to ALL output columns, so leading zeros are being removed. I can select the first column, and sometimes the horizontal slide bar in the wizard allows me to select the first couple, but generally, it won't let me go further. I have an entire team stumped by this. Due to the nature of our work, we cannot use macros and we only have Excel 2016. I have tried many workarounds, and nothing seems to keep Excel from deleting our leading zeros.

    Any advice is appreciated.

  2. #2
    Forum Expert 63falcondude's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-22-2016
    Location
    USA
    MS-Off Ver
    365
    Posts
    6,266

    Re: Text to Columns problem with large data sets and leading zeros

    Please see the yellow banner at the top of the page and attach a small representative sample workbook, along with the desired results based on that sample included.

  3. #3
    Forum Expert 63falcondude's Avatar
    Join Date
    08-22-2016
    Location
    USA
    MS-Off Ver
    365
    Posts
    6,266

    Re: Text to Columns problem with large data sets and leading zeros

    I can't give you an exact answer without a representative sample of the data, but it sounds like you can use the split function in Power Query (Get & Transform) to do this pretty easily.

+ Reply to Thread

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. [SOLVED] Text to columns VBA keep leading zeros
    By forrestgump1980 in forum Excel Programming / VBA / Macros
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 04-04-2017, 08:43 AM
  2. Problem with filtering large data sets
    By LeCoquille in forum Excel General
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 10-17-2016, 03:49 AM
  3. Replies: 1
    Last Post: 09-28-2012, 03:40 PM
  4. Replies: 6
    Last Post: 01-11-2012, 01:48 PM
  5. Retaining leading zeros in text cell problem
    By PaulC in forum Excel Programming / VBA / Macros
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: 12-27-2007, 05:42 AM
  6. [SOLVED] TEXT TO COLUMNS WITH LEADING ZEROS
    By Peggy in forum Excel General
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 06-16-2005, 09:05 PM
  7. Replies: 1
    Last Post: 05-04-2005, 02:06 PM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts

Search Engine Friendly URLs by vBSEO 3.6.0 RC 1