Setting Default Delimiter when opening text files

I have about 100 files that I need to convert from a third-party system into SQL Server. I am going through Excel to do this. In the import files, I am not able to insert a tab into the files, but I am able to put a tilde (~) between columns. When I open these text files in Excel, it opens the text wizard and recognizes that these are delimited files. When I go to the next screen, I pick "other" and put a tilde in the character box. Although this is a simple step, I have to do this manually for all 100 files. Is there a way to configure Excel so that a tilde is the "default" delimiter so I won't have to key this in for every text file? Thanks, Eddie

There is a way to reset the default delimiter,
but it appears to only work on files with a .CSV extension.

Try this:

Click the Start button,
Click Control Panel.
Click Clock, Language and Region
Click Region and Language
Click Additional Settings box
On the line that reads: Lists change from comma to tilde
Click Apply, Click OK, Click Apply, Click OK

Now, navigate to your Input file, it MUST have a .CSV extension.
If your file does not have a .CSV extension, simply re-name it with one.

Right click on the file and select Open With and select Excel.

Your file should open in Excel separated into your designated columns.

Don't forget to go back and re-set the system list separator.