XL: How to Preserve Formulas When Saving as a Text File

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for Windows NT, version 5.0
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel for the Power Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, it is sometimes necessary to save your document as a text file to fix corruption in the file.

MORE INFORMATION

When a Microsoft Excel file is saved as text file, only the active sheet and the displayed values are saved. All formulas that are on the active sheet are discarded. You can preserve the formulas when you save the file as a text file. To display formulas in the cells in the Microsoft Excel sheet, use either of the following methods:

• Press CTRL+TILDE (~).

      -or-
  

• In Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, click Preferences on the Tools menu. (Click Options on the Tools menu in earlier versions.) In the Preferences dialog box (Options dialog box in earlier versions), click the View tab. Then, click to select the Formulas check box. Click OK.

Opening the file as a Tab Delimited file is the only way to preserve the formulas and values that were in individual cells on the original worksheet. All of the other methods force the text file to display its formulas when the Text Import Wizard is finished.