Tek-Tips is the largest IT community on the Internet today!

Members share and learn making Tek-Tips Forums the best source of peer-reviewed technical information on the Internet!

  • Congratulations strongm on being selected by the Tek-Tips community for having the most helpful posts in the forums last week. Way to Go!

Excel 2007 - how to preserve column widths

Status
Not open for further replies.

ixodid

Technical User
Dec 5, 2008
30
US
I created a spreadsheet in Excel 20007 and adjusted the column widths to suit my needs. After I close Excel and open the same document again, the columns default back to the original widths.

How can I make Excel preserve the column widths I want?
 

Do you Save and Close Excel, or just Close it?

Or the problem is - you use way too advanced version of it (Excel 20007) :)

Have fun.

---- Andy
 


hi,

record a macro setting the column widths.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses]Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![tongue][/sub]
 
(Excel 20007) - cute - I like that:)

It happens whether I close or save. I'm not clear on the difference because if I close it, it asks me to save anyway.
 
I have more information that may be relevant. I am working with this as a .csv file because that is what was requested of me. Could that be complicating things?
 



You are OPENING the .csv? .csv files have no 'memory' of formatting. They are just TEXT FILES.

Rather IMPORT your .csv file into a sheet. Format it ONE TIME. Refresh your IMPORT whenever you get a new .csv file.

However, I would still macro record setting your formats.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses]Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![tongue][/sub]
 
Now I understand that it is a text file - I did not previously know that.

The rest (about importing) I don't understand. I think that is because I don't want to import anything. I need to provide an associate with a spreadsheet in .csv format that I am hand-entering data into.

I will be doing this often. So is there a convenient way I can create a "template" with the column labels I need and then send it in a .csv format?
 


I need to provide an associate with a spreadsheet in .csv format that I am hand-entering data into.
WHY???

.csv is NOT a spreadsheet! It is a TEXT FILE!!! It has NO FORMATTING, that you are so concerned about!

This makes absolutely no sense!

What is so important about using a .csv file?

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses]Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![tongue][/sub]
 
I appreciate your help but the use of ALL-CAPS is considered shouting or rude and although I doubt you intend to belittle me, it makes me feel a little bit like a doofus.

I am asking the questions because I don't know any better. If I knew what I was talking about, I wouldn't be asking the questions.

All I know is I was asked by my associate to provide data in a spreadsheet and he said it needed to be in .csv format so he could import it into his CRM software.

Perhaps I am using the wrong terminology or something which is causing a misunderstanding?
 
As Skip said a CSV file does not have column widths. Instead the value in each column is separated from the next by a comma. (CSV stands for Comma Separated Variable.) So changing the column widths will not alter the info your associate receives.

I think you should save your copy of the file as a workbook. Only save as a csv to send to your associate.

(You could save a copy of the workbook without data as a template. File, Save As......(in xl 2003) This is effectively a read-only copy of the workbook.)

The alternative would be, as Skip said, to record a macro to Create your headers and set your column widths.

(By the way I think Skip was using caps selectively for emphasis, not shouting.)

Gavin
 


provide data in a spreadsheet and he said it needed to be in .csv format
Again, a spreadsheet and an .csv file are two different things.

As Gavin stated, you can create a spreadsheet and Save it as a workbook for your working document, and also do a SaveAs .csv as the required product for your associate, keeping in mind that the ONLY thing that the .csv file contains is TEXT DATA -- nothing else with respect to spreadsheet formats and properties.

Skip,
[sub]
[glasses]Just traded in my old subtlety...
for a NUANCE![tongue][/sub]
 

provide data in a spreadsheet and he said it needed to be in .csv format
it is almost like saying: "provide information as a movie clip and it needed to be in .txt or .pdf format"

Like Skip said: "ONLY thing that the .csv file contains is TEXT DATA" You can *SEE* it for yourself if you open your .csv file in a NOTEPAD, instead of just double-clicking on the file name in Windows Explorer.

Have fun.

---- Andy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Part and Inventory Search

Sponsor

Back
Top