# How to convert/save an Excel file to ASCII comma delimited text file



## rpallipamu (Mar 10, 2010)

I need convert/save Excel files into the ASCII comma delimited text files. It needs to be in this format in order to upload healthcare data to the CDC (NHSN).

Thank you.


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## Alternatech (Feb 24, 2010)

File - Save As. Change Save as type option at the bottom...


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## Rollin_Again (Sep 4, 2003)

To expand further on what has already been said, click *FILE >> SAVE AS* and then change the file type to *CSV* and then save to the location of your choice. Then you just need to right click on the newly created CSV file and choose *OPEN WITH* and select Notepad. Once the file opens in Notepad you just need to re-save with *.txt* as the extension. Another option is to use a macro to create the text file for you but this is overkill in the situation.

Regards
Rollin


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## sadert (Oct 12, 2006)

Depends on what format your database requires it.If it's CSV then as suggested above save it as .csv and you are done.If you require text file then open with notepad and convert but in some cases encoding needs to be checked.In notepad you can encode it as ansi or unicode.In most cases unicode works,but just play with it and see. All the best.


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