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Trouble importing data.

G

Glaucus

New Member
Hello everyone! I am having a bit of a problem with importing data from a text file... Here is the situation.


The current spreadsheet that I am working on has a number of hidden columns, and I am importing data from a comma delimited text file. My problem is that the A and B columns are hidden, yet when I import the text file an A and B column are created to house the data that corresponds with that data.


To be as clear as possible I'll make a list...


Column A - Location

Column B - Name

Column C - Age

Column D - Height


I have columns A and B hidden, but I still want them to be populated by the text file I import, so... Ideally I want something like this.


After the import...

Column A - Location (Hidden and populated with data)

Column B - Name (Hidden and populated with data)

Column C - Age

Column D - Height


However, this is what happens when I import the data...


Column A - Location (hidden, not populated)

Column B - Name (hidden, not populated)

Column C - No Name (populated with Location data)

Column D - No Name (populated with Name data)

Column E - Age

Column F - Height


It seems that the import function does not want to populate the first two hidden columns... Is there anything I can do about this?
 
Glaucus


This may sound simple but


Unhide Columns A & B

Import the data

Hide Columns A & B


As you've found you cannot import data into hidden columns
 
I'm not able to duplicate the problem...when I go to import data, there's an option to say what cell you want the data in, and it's dumping it (correctly) into column A.
 
Thank you both for the responses!


Hui,


Yes, I was thinking this would be something fairly simple, and I agree that what you mentioned would be an easy way to deal with the problem. However, this worksheet I am creating is going to be used by a very large number of people and it would be in my company's best interest if columns A and B were hidden.


Luke,


What you mentioned gave me an idea that I tried out. Whereas, Excel asks you where you want the data to be imported... Since columns A and B are hidden, I am forced to use column C... But, I have a question for you now. Do you have column A hidden first before attempting the import?
 
Actually... I was able to pull off what I was trying to do. After going through the import process Excel has that window pop up, asking for where you want the data to be placed...


I just typed in =$A$2 and everything populated corrected despite having the A and B columns hidden.


Thank you both for taking the time to look at this!
 
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