Setting the import data structure

When you specify a source file (or the clipboard) to the import wizard, it analyzes the contents and tries to deduce its structure. If the table that the wizard displays is not a good representation of your data (for example, if the columns do not contain discrete values), you can adjust the settings manually.

Procedure

To define the structure of the incoming data:

On the Define Columns page of the import wizard, set how your data is structured.

Option	Description
Delimited	Within each row, fields in the data are separated by particular characters called delimiters. Select any combination of the Comma, Semicolon, Tab, or Space check boxes. Optionally, select Other and enter your own character.
Fixed Width	Within each row, every field has the same width as the equivalent field in the other rows. Each field within a row might have a different width, but the width of a specific field is consistent throughout every row of the data. Click the displayed data, and specify where each field begins: To insert a column break, click in the ruler area at the position where you want a break. To move a column break, drag its vertical line to a new position. To delete a column break, double-click it.

Option

Description

Delimited

Within each row, fields in the data are separated by particular characters called delimiters.

Select any combination of the Comma, Semicolon, Tab, or Space check boxes. Optionally, select Other and enter your own character.

Fixed Width

Within each row, every field has the same width as the equivalent field in the other rows. Each field within a row might have a different width, but the width of a specific field is consistent throughout every row of the data.

Click the displayed data, and specify where each field begins:

To insert a column break, click in the ruler area at the position where you want a break.
To move a column break, drag its vertical line to a new position.
To delete a column break, double-click it.

By default, the wizard assumes that the incoming data uses the same text encoding as your operating system. If the table contains characters that you do not recognize, you can tell the wizard to try a different one.

Click Encoding. In the Encoding area, select an encoding option.

Option	Description
Plain Text	The incoming data contains only ASCII text, which includes only punctuation marks, uppercase and lowercase Latin alphabetic characters, and digits 0 - 9.
Regional Settings Default	The incoming data uses the encoding that the operating system specifies as the system default.
Other Encoding	The incoming data uses the encoding that you select from a list.

The result of using the selected encoding for the incoming data is displayed in the Preview box. If characters are not correctly displayed, select a different encoding. Otherwise, click OK.

When the table in the import wizard displays correctly formatted tabular data, click Next.