Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. 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: Saving Information in a Text File.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated December 2, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021
There may be times when you want a macro to save information to a text file. This is very easy to do. All you need is to open the file for output, and then start sending information to the file. The following code fragment writes a text file using this method.
Open "MyFile.Dat" For Output As #1 Print #1, NumValues For J = 1 to NumValues Print #1, UserVals(J) Next J Close #1
The first thing written to the file is a numeric value indicating how many individual values will follow it (the code presumes that you set this value in the NumValues variable). Then a For ... Next loop is used to create the balance of the file.
You should be aware that the code, as written, will overwrite any existing MyFile.Dat file. If you want to protect the file in some way, your code will need to check to see if it exists before opening it or you'll need to set the attributes of the file to read-only.
Note:
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (8885) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Saving Information in a Text File.
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