Fixed-width text file import into Excel/Mac cannot scroll (for wide data)

Question

Have a problem with Excel 16 for Mac (office365) where if you're importing WIDE text fields which are more than 100ish characters,  you cannot scroll to adjust the import.

It's a bug on Excel where they've used the wrong text scrolling type -- it doesn't respond to a mouse scroll L/R gesture,  therefore it's the wrong text box widget.

The workaround/hack is to go to System Preferences / General and set "Show scroll bars" to Always.  Do the import (which now shows the scroll handles,  but doesn't respond to the mouse),  then put it back to your previous setting (probably set to "When scrolling").

Answer 1

You have "fixedwidth.txt" which,  say,   has a couple of dozen columns with a fixed width and a total width of 1000 characters.  You want to import that into Excel as a couple of dozen columns.

Start Excel (on the mac),  go to File / Import (forget the pointless ribbon,  use the proper application menu bar) and click import.  On the dialog select Text file and click Import.  Select fixedwidth.txt,  brings up the "Text import wizard"

Select Fixed width.  Next >.

Now try and select one of the right-hand columns off off the "preview of selected data" canvas.  You can't.  It won't scroll *sideways* with the mouse.  Only way to scroll it sideways is to change my Mac's settings because Excel's broken.

Click Apple / System preferences / General / Show scroll bars.  Select "Always".

Go back to Excel.  Alas it's still broken.  So Cancel the Text import wizard.

Back to the File / Import / Text file / select file...  Text import wizard now has a scroll handle enabling you to scroll sideways.  Still won't scroll sideways with the mouse (because it's broken).

Now fiddle with the column widths as required and import the file.

Then reset your Mac's settings back to the way that works with all other applications (except Excel's Text import wizard). 

HTH

Answer 2

I'm afraid there is nothing anyone here can do about this. My guess is that it requires new programming due to Apple's usurpation of scroll bar behavior but ranks low on the totem pole due to many other more serious issues.

Use the ☺︎ at the right end of a document window title bar to submit a frown. The more feedback Microsoft receives the sooner it will be addressed.

You also can submit a feature request/suggestion or vote for any existing ones @ Excel for Mac

Answer 3

Much though I appreciate the sentiments,  I certainly won't be wasting my time with the "user voice",  not least because the word "user" has bad connotations -- I'll leave you to google there's only two groups in this world that calls their customers users:  the IT industry and...

I've been using Office since version 1/2 in 1990 and still find bugs that existed in the first stable versions,  4.2.  So I'm sure that a lone "user" voice won't be heard.

Answer 4

Hi I'm Futumptch and so's my wife,

We appreciate that you posted back and confirmed the detailed steps with us.

According to your description, I have tested it on our side and I can reproduce the same situation as yours. I do understand the inconvenience it has made and apologize for it. We’re sorry that it doesn’t meet your requirement. We’re afraid that there is no out of box way to change this behavior insider Excel.

We understand the situation and you make a great point. To address your concern about the situation, as Bob said, you can we’d suggest you go to Excel for Mac UserVoice to provide your feedback. This is the best platform to let us hear from you and make our products and services better for you and others. Or you can also provide feedback to our related team by clicking on the Smiley Face button inside Excel. This feedback will directly go to them so that our related team can hear your voice on this feature directly.

We also appreciate that you share the workarounds here. This will also help the other community members to find the solution if they come across the same situation.

@Bob,

Thank you for sharing your suggestions here.

We appreciate your understanding!

Best Regards,

Sukie

Answer 5

Hi I'm Futumptch and so's my wife,

We appreciate that you post a thread in our forum and share the experience and workaround here.

You mentioned “Excel/Mac cannot scroll”, does it mean that you cannot scroll horizontally by mouse after importing data? If so, we have tested it on our side, as steps shown below:

I went to Data > From Text > selected file and get data > selected Fixed-width text file > then I found that I cannot scroll horizontally by mouse, and I need to hold the mouse and drag the scroll bar to display.

May I know if the scenario above is consistent with yours? If not, could you provide more details about “you cannot scroll to adjust the import”?

At the same time, to test it on our side and check we have the same behavior, I want to confirm the information below with you:

1. Could you provide the version of your Excel? You can go to Excel > About Excel and provide the screenshot of it.
2. Could you provide more details about “you cannot scroll to adjust the import”?

Thank you for your understanding!

Best Regards,

Sukie