Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Getting Rid of Extra Quote Marks in Exported Text Files.
Sometimes the export filters used by Excel can produce undesired results in the exported file. For instance, when you export to a tab-delimited text file, some Excel filters place quote marks around the text in a cell. For instance, assume that a particular cell contains the following text:
Create bts; sitemask = "0110"; pcmlink = 40
This, however, is how the text in the cell is exported by Excel:
"Create bts; sitemask = ""0110""; pcmlink = 40"
Notice that Excel adds extra quotation marks, first around the entire cell contents, and then an extra set around any previously "quoted" text within the cell.
One solution for handling the problem is to simply load the text file created by Excel into another program, such as Word, and use the Find and Replace feature to remove the undesired quotes. A better solution, however, is to create your own macro that creates the output text file. Consider the following macro:
Sub Export() Dim r As Range, c As Range Dim sTemp As String Open "c:\MyOutput.txt" For Output As #1 For Each r In Selection.Rows sTemp = "" For Each c In r.Cells sTemp = sTemp & c.Text & Chr(9) Next c 'Get rid of trailing tabs While Right(sTemp, 1) = Chr(9) sTemp = Left(sTemp, Len(sTemp) - 1) Wend Print #1, sTemp Next r Close #1 End Sub
All you need to do is select the cells you want to export, and then run the macro. The cells in the selection are extracted from the worksheet and placed in the file c:MyOutput.txt. (This filename can be changed in the macro to whatever your needs dictate.)
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8321) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Getting Rid of Extra Quote Marks in Exported Text Files.
Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!
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2014-07-29 13:22:26
I added 3 lines of code to the above macro which removes the need to highlight the range before removing the extra quote marks.
Open "I:UnQuoted WinAmp Tags.csv" For Output As #1 is my output file.
Next I added new lines:
Windows("Edit WinAmp Tags.csv").Activate
Range("A1").Select
Range(Selection, Selection.End(xlDown)).Select
before:
For Each r In Selection.Rows
which makes my target datasheet active and selects anything in column A
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, and 2013. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: 
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