Hi

Let's say I import into Excel a tab-separated file consisting of 10 columns. Excel imports the data into columns A through J.

I can Refresh Data on this spreadsheet at any time, feeding it different 10-column tab-separated files, and the data will be appropriately updated in the spreadsheet.

Now say I insert a new column E into this spreadsheet (with, say, a graph calculated off of columns A-D). It now consists of columns A through K; A-D and F-K have data from the tab-separated file.

How do I Refresh Data on this spreadsheet now? What will happen to that manually entered column E?

Thanks

Before we go any further, I would like to ask where is the data source. Is the data from Access in local machine, from web, or other data source?

"How do I Refresh Data on this spreadsheet now? What will happen to that manually entered column E?"

- It depends on how you get the source or how you design the coding.

For example, I have a xlsm file and get the data source from website query like this:

name   descritpion  times  price

AAA      BBB             C         100

When I insert a new column (even mess up the entire spreadsheet) and refresh all data, we still get the structure above. The reason is that I define the structure in marcros and the data source is not changed.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Tony Chen
Forum Support
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The data source right now is a tab-separated .TXT file being produced by another application.

The spreadsheet in question has been heavily formatted and contains add-on columns (with formulas, etc.) to the right of the area defined as the imported data set. Every month now, I've been able to bring in a new data file, open Excel, refresh the data set, and produce an updated spreadsheet with formatting and extra columns intact.

But the imported data set consists of consecutive columns. And in order to insert these new charts where they would make sense, I'd have to open up columns inside this range of consecutive columns.

Thanks
CL

P.S. I think I see where you're going with your example above. But if I were to change the data output of the program creating the file from tab-separated .TXT to XML, I would easily quintuple the size of that file ... The file as it is 96 columns and over 47,000 rows.

Thank you for sharing your scenario here.
So, if you manually entered column E and refresh all data, that would make the data in spreadsheet mess up?

Cheers,
Tony Chen
Forum Support
________________________________________
Come back and mark the replies as answers if they help and unmark them if they provide no help.
If you have any feedback on our support, please contact tnmff@microsoft.com.