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Excel 2016 Please return the "enable: all files" in the text import box so we can import files that have extensions other than .txt

Excel 2011 had the option at the bottom to switch to "all files" when importing text files so that files that had extensions other than .txt would not be greyed out. This is now gone in Excel 2016 so it is impossible to import text files that have other file extensions unless you rename them (which is very impractical for me).

Please put the option back! I want to be able to import .dat, .ici, .ocw and so on as I used to on Excel 2011.

21 votes
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Joe shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →

11 comments

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  • Annemarie Honegger commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    For users who use EXCEL in a scientific context (bioinformatics) this change is extremly limiting, as the ASCII text files generated by countless UNIX programs use the file extention to indicate the type of data contained in the text file.

    The windows version of EXCEL2019 allows to enter other extensions in the File name field of the "Open File" dialog, while at the same specifying a text file. Why can't the window version do the same

    Also, probably linked, under visual basic, "Workbooks.OpenText" seems to be similarly broken, pretending that the file does not exist, while "line input" works fine with exactly the same list of filepaths, filenames and extensions

    see:
    https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/importing-ascii-text-files-with-extensions-other/9a0893c4-0412-4a0f-8fc9-b291971320c9

  • Ralph W Callaway commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Not to mention a big industry standard on Pipe Separated Files ending with .psv
    Royal Pain. Google spreadsheet and Mac Numbers understand and allow psv files...

    Sometimes Microsoft DOES NOT KNOW WHAT IS BEST FOR THE USER.

  • Bill Szymczak commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    A .dat file can be opened in Excel on a MAC.
    1) File/Open
    A window will appear with all the .dat files grayed out.
    2) Right Click on the file you want to open and select Rename from the popup window.
    3) You will then see an "Open" button on the lower right of the window. (You do not need to actually rename the file.)

  • Vic Quinn commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Many scientific programs export data into .dat files which previously could be easily imported into Excel for analysis or presentation. Restriction of file import to .txt files is cumbersome.
    Please restore Excel's capability to import data from files with non .txt extensions as the user selects.

  • fck commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Do you know if there is a way to get around this problem ? this is really ****** not to be able to select a filetype of our own I agree

  • Fun commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I fully agree. I need to import files that are not .csv or .txt and Excel does not allow that anymore.

Excel for Mac: Data Import

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