Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated February 16, 2019)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
Let's say that you have a folder on your hard drive that contains thirty text files, and you want to import all of them to an Excel workbook. You want each text file to end up on its own worksheet in the workbook, so that you will have a total of thirty worksheets.
One way to do this is to manually add the desired worksheets, and then individually import each of the text files. This, as you can imagine, would quickly get tedious. A much better solution is to use a macro to do the importing, such as the following one.
Sub CombineTextFiles() Dim FilesToOpen Dim x As Integer Dim wkbAll As Workbook Dim wkbTemp As Workbook Dim sDelimiter As String On Error GoTo ErrHandler Application.ScreenUpdating = False sDelimiter = "|" FilesToOpen = Application.GetOpenFilename _ (FileFilter:="Text Files (*.txt), *.txt", _ MultiSelect:=True, Title:="Text Files to Open") If TypeName(FilesToOpen) = "Boolean" Then MsgBox "No Files were selected" GoTo ExitHandler End If x = 1 Set wkbTemp = Workbooks.Open(FileName:=FilesToOpen(x)) wkbTemp.Sheets(1).Copy Set wkbAll = ActiveWorkbook wkbTemp.Close (False) wkbAll.Worksheets(x).Columns("A:A").TextToColumns _ Destination:=Range("A1"), DataType:=xlDelimited, _ TextQualifier:=xlDoubleQuote, _ ConsecutiveDelimiter:=False, _ Tab:=False, Semicolon:=False, _ Comma:=False, Space:=False, _ Other:=True, OtherChar:="|" x = x + 1 While x <= UBound(FilesToOpen) Set wkbTemp = Workbooks.Open(FileName:=FilesToOpen(x)) With wkbAll wkbTemp.Sheets(1).Move After:=.Sheets(.Sheets.Count) .Worksheets(x).Columns("A:A").TextToColumns _ Destination:=Range("A1"), DataType:=xlDelimited, _ TextQualifier:=xlDoubleQuote, _ ConsecutiveDelimiter:=False, _ Tab:=False, Semicolon:=False, _ Comma:=False, Space:=False, _ Other:=True, OtherChar:=sDelimiter End With x = x + 1 Wend ExitHandler: Application.ScreenUpdating = True Set wkbAll = Nothing Set wkbTemp = Nothing Exit Sub ErrHandler: MsgBox Err.Description Resume ExitHandler End Sub
This macro allows you to select which files you want to import, and then it places the data from those files onto the separate worksheets in the workbook. The macro assumes that the data being imported uses the pipe character (|) as a delimiter between fields.
If you know that the files to be imported are always in the specific folder, and that you want to import all the files in that folder, then you can simplify the macro a bit. The following example assumes that the files are in the folder c:\temp\load_excel, but you could change that folder name by making a simple change to fpath variable in the macro code.
Sub LoadPipeDelimitedFiles() Dim idx As Integer Dim fpath As String Dim fname As String idx = 0 fpath = "c:\temp\load_excel\" fname = Dir(fpath & "*.txt") While (Len(fname) > 0) idx = idx + 1 Sheets("Sheet" & idx).Select With ActiveSheet.QueryTables.Add(Connection:="TEXT;" _ & fpath & fname, Destination:=Range("A1")) .Name = "a" & idx .FieldNames = True .RowNumbers = False .FillAdjacentFormulas = False .PreserveFormatting = True .RefreshOnFileOpen = False .RefreshStyle = xlInsertDeleteCells .SavePassword = False .SaveData = True .AdjustColumnWidth = True .RefreshPeriod = 0 .TextFilePromptOnRefresh = False .TextFilePlatform = 437 .TextFileStartRow = 1 .TextFileParseType = xlDelimited .TextFileTextQualifier = xlTextQualifierDoubleQuote .TextFileConsecutiveDelimiter = False .TextFileTabDelimiter = False .TextFileSemicolonDelimiter = False .TextFileCommaDelimiter = False .TextFileSpaceDelimiter = False .TextFileOtherDelimiter = "|" .TextFileColumnDataTypes = Array(1, 1, 1) .TextFileTrailingMinusNumbers = True .Refresh BackgroundQuery:=False fname = Dir End With Wend End Sub
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3148) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Importing Multiple Files to a Single Workbook.
Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!
If you have a problem that crops up when you first start Excel, it can be a bear to track down the cause of the problem. ...
Discover MoreWhen storing your Excel workbook, you need to specify a file name to be used for the workbook. Take a moment to consider ...
Discover MoreWorkbooks can get rather large rather quickly. If you think your workbook has gotten too big too fast, here are some ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2020-06-04 07:50:36
reader
Dear Sir
i am importing multiple text files in excel using the Macro given at this site
it is working but say for example u have data as 0010 it is changing it to 10 i tried to modify the code by
adding Destination:=Range("A1").NumberFormat = "@" in the script but it
is giving error texttocoloums method of range class failed
Regards
Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Comments