Tab Delimited

**sl@ja** · 11-11-2009, 06:33 PM

Hi all - thanks for reading.

This is probably going to seem like a ridiculous question, but I want to make sure I'm understanding some requirements one of our clients has given me for a report. They want data in a tab delimited text file. I'll use Crystal Reports to pull the data and export to Excel. Then I know to save as the type of file I want. The problem? There are specific guidelines for where each field should start and stop in the text file (such as the field for the SSN should be from column 52 to column 60 in the text file. It has to be exactly there and exactly that 9 characters in length. Is there a way to specify in Excel where the fields end up on the text file?

Thanks in advance for your help!

**Paul** · 11-11-2009, 06:45 PM

Hi Sl@ja,

What you're seeking is actually a fixed-width text file, not a tab-delimited text file. An example of another user doing this is here:

http://www.vbaexpress.com/kb/getarticle.php?kb_id=759

**sl@ja** · 11-11-2009, 06:50 PM

Thank you, Paul. That's what I thought, but the client insists that they need a tab delimited file with those specifications. I guess I just needed confirmation that I wasn't missing some way to do both.

Thanks!

**shg** · 11-11-2009, 07:41 PM

Aren't standard tab positions every eight characters? There isn't a tab that starts at character 52 ...

**sl@ja** · 11-12-2009, 10:26 AM

I didn't think so, either. At least I know now that I'm not crazy. I think I may just get the file to line up properly exporting to text directly from Crystal (which is easy) and then see if the client's system will accept it.

Thanks for the input!