HOW TO CREATE A TAB-DELIMITED TEXT FILE USING MICROSOFT EXCEL?
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1) Create your Excel table as usual OR open an existing Excel file (*.xls).
2) Go to "File" on the menu and choose "Save As ...".
3) Name your file.
4) Under "Save as type", choose "Text (Tab Delimited) *.txt".
5) After saving, a warning prompt will appear. Simply ignore it.
* MS-Access works the similar way.

HOW TO CONVERT THE DATA FILE BACK TO MICROSOFT EXCEL FORMAT?
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1) From the "File" menu, choose "Open ...".
2) Change the "Files of type" to "Text Files (*.prn, *.txt, *.csv)".
3) Browse to the text file and open it.
4) A Text Import Wizard will show up. Select the radio button "Delimited"; "Start import at row" as "1" and "File origin" as "Windows (ANSI)". Click NEXT.
5) Mark the "Tab" checkbox. Leave "Text qualifier" as ". Click NEXT.
6) Choose the "Text" radio button. Highlight ALL columns under "Date Preview" by holding down the SHIFT key. Click FINISH.
* MS-Access works the similar way.