Excel will not accept data to add a column

[Tom B]

I have a column of data I need to add with Excel. The data is available to
the public on the Internet as an HTML document (originally a .zip file). The
..html file is shown in Windows Explorer with a Windows Internet Explorer
symbol.

The data is shown by Excel as a spreadsheet with 6 columns. It is possible
to move the Excel columns around so they appear to line up with the data.
Even though it 'appears' to be a normal spreadsheet, Excel will not add
anything. The data is treated as text. Attempting to add the cells results in
a total of 0. I have not been able to work out changing any of the columns to
a format where the numbers can be added.

I'm a beginner at this, but thought I understood that what you see is what
you get - - apparently Not.

I've also tried copying portions of the .html file and saving it as a .txt
file with Wordpad. However this will not import as anything that appears
compatible with an Excel spreadsheet.

At one point I found a "text import wizard" that appeared to work on part of
the data - - but I can not find a way to access it again, and the terms do
not appear in the Excel help file.

What is the best approach for this?

(This is Excel 2002, SP3, running with Windows XP Professional, Service Pack
2)

[CyberTaz]

Hi Tom-

If you can Open the file using Excel and it flows to separate columns, you
might try selecting the range of cells and copying them. Then click on the
cell where you want the pasting to begin, but go to the Edit>Paste Special
command & choose Values. This may work.

If not, the Import wizard you refer to is in Excel's Data Menu>Import (or
Get) External Data. You should also be able to use the normal Open file
command to open a text file, but you'll need to specify that file type (or
All Files) from the list at the bottom of the Open File dialog box. That
should trigger the wizard, too.

Hope this helps |:>)

"Tom B" wrote:

> I have a column of data I need to add with Excel. The data is available to
> the public on the Internet as an HTML document (originally a .zip file). The
> .html file is shown in Windows Explorer with a Windows Internet Explorer
> symbol.
>
> The data is shown by Excel as a spreadsheet with 6 columns. It is possible
> to move the Excel columns around so they appear to line up with the data.
> Even though it 'appears' to be a normal spreadsheet, Excel will not add
> anything. The data is treated as text. Attempting to add the cells results in
> a total of 0. I have not been able to work out changing any of the columns to
> a format where the numbers can be added.
>
> I'm a beginner at this, but thought I understood that what you see is what
> you get - - apparently Not.
>
> I've also tried copying portions of the .html file and saving it as a .txt
> file with Wordpad. However this will not import as anything that appears
> compatible with an Excel spreadsheet.
>
> At one point I found a "text import wizard" that appeared to work on part of
> the data - - but I can not find a way to access it again, and the terms do
> not appear in the Excel help file.
>
> What is the best approach for this?
>
> (This is Excel 2002, SP3, running with Windows XP Professional, Service Pack
> 2)
>
>

[Tom B]

Is there a window I can pull down to access the "text import wizard" ? What
activates it?

Thanks

"CyberTaz" wrote:

> Hi Tom-
>
> If you can Open the file using Excel and it flows to separate columns, you
> might try selecting the range of cells and copying them. Then click on the
> cell where you want the pasting to begin, but go to the Edit>Paste Special
> command & choose Values. This may work.
>
> If not, the Import wizard you refer to is in Excel's Data Menu>Import (or
> Get) External Data. You should also be able to use the normal Open file
> command to open a text file, but you'll need to specify that file type (or
> All Files) from the list at the bottom of the Open File dialog box. That
> should trigger the wizard, too.
>
> Hope this helps |:>)
>
> "Tom B" wrote:
>
> > I have a column of data I need to add with Excel. The data is available to
> > the public on the Internet as an HTML document (originally a .zip file). The
> > .html file is shown in Windows Explorer with a Windows Internet Explorer
> > symbol.
> >
> > The data is shown by Excel as a spreadsheet with 6 columns. It is possible
> > to move the Excel columns around so they appear to line up with the data.
> > Even though it 'appears' to be a normal spreadsheet, Excel will not add
> > anything. The data is treated as text. Attempting to add the cells results in
> > a total of 0. I have not been able to work out changing any of the columns to
> > a format where the numbers can be added.
> >
> > I'm a beginner at this, but thought I understood that what you see is what
> > you get - - apparently Not.
> >
> > I've also tried copying portions of the .html file and saving it as a .txt
> > file with Wordpad. However this will not import as anything that appears
> > compatible with an Excel spreadsheet.
> >
> > At one point I found a "text import wizard" that appeared to work on part of
> > the data - - but I can not find a way to access it again, and the terms do
> > not appear in the Excel help file.
> >
> > What is the best approach for this?
> >
> > (This is Excel 2002, SP3, running with Windows XP Professional, Service Pack
> > 2)
> >
> >

[Gord Dibben]

Tom

The Text Import Wizard opens automatically when a *.txt file is opened.

To open manually......Data>Text to Columns.

Make sure you have first selected the data to parse.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Tue, 15 Feb 2005 01:45:02 -0800, "Tom B" <TomB@discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:

>Is there a window I can pull down to access the "text import wizard" ? What
>activates it?
>
>Thanks
>
>"CyberTaz" wrote:
>
>> Hi Tom-
>>
>> If you can Open the file using Excel and it flows to separate columns, you
>> might try selecting the range of cells and copying them. Then click on the
>> cell where you want the pasting to begin, but go to the Edit>Paste Special
>> command & choose Values. This may work.
>>
>> If not, the Import wizard you refer to is in Excel's Data Menu>Import (or
>> Get) External Data. You should also be able to use the normal Open file
>> command to open a text file, but you'll need to specify that file type (or
>> All Files) from the list at the bottom of the Open File dialog box. That
>> should trigger the wizard, too.
>>
>> Hope this helps |:>)
>>
>> "Tom B" wrote:
>>
>> > I have a column of data I need to add with Excel. The data is available to
>> > the public on the Internet as an HTML document (originally a .zip file). The
>> > .html file is shown in Windows Explorer with a Windows Internet Explorer
>> > symbol.
>> >
>> > The data is shown by Excel as a spreadsheet with 6 columns. It is possible
>> > to move the Excel columns around so they appear to line up with the data.
>> > Even though it 'appears' to be a normal spreadsheet, Excel will not add
>> > anything. The data is treated as text. Attempting to add the cells results in
>> > a total of 0. I have not been able to work out changing any of the columns to
>> > a format where the numbers can be added.
>> >
>> > I'm a beginner at this, but thought I understood that what you see is what
>> > you get - - apparently Not.
>> >
>> > I've also tried copying portions of the .html file and saving it as a .txt
>> > file with Wordpad. However this will not import as anything that appears
>> > compatible with an Excel spreadsheet.
>> >
>> > At one point I found a "text import wizard" that appeared to work on part of
>> > the data - - but I can not find a way to access it again, and the terms do
>> > not appear in the Excel help file.
>> >
>> > What is the best approach for this?
>> >
>> > (This is Excel 2002, SP3, running with Windows XP Professional, Service Pack
>> > 2)
>> >
>> >

[Tom B]

"CyberTaz" wrote:

> If not, the Import wizard you refer to is in Excel's Data Menu>Import (or
> Get) External Data. You should also be able to use the normal Open file
> command to open a text file, but you'll need to specify that file type (or
> All Files) from the list at the bottom of the Open File dialog box. That
> should trigger the wizard, too.
>
> Hope this helps |:>)
>


Yes. I was eventually able to get Excel to recognize the .txt file