Importing Excel

[Tampa-Terry]

Greetings, all!!!

I have some recipes in an Excel spreadsheet. There are columns for
ingredients, amounts, grams of protein, fat, notes ... things like that. I
cut and paste and then convert the table to text, selecting

There are also directions -- 1., 2., 3., etc. The text for each numbered
instruction is in Column A.

When I import the recipe, the columns in the Ingredients area extend off the
page and are not visible. The tab stops seem to be out of whack, and I don't
know how to correct it, other than going in manually and sliding each one
over. It's something I really have to struggle with to get it to where I can
print it. Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The first line of attack is to display nonprinting characters and make sure,
before converting, that there are not multiple tab characters between
columns. After converting to a table, make sure the table is set to 100%
width and not allowed to resize automatically.

 

[Tampa-Terry]

Suzanne, I think you nailed what was causing my problem. I have some hidden
columns. that hold data used in some of the formulas.

How would I make sure the table is set to 100% and not allowed to resize
automatically? I've been trying variations of paste and paste special, both.
I'm open to anything. (grin)

Thanks. And by the way, you've answered questions for me in the past. It
sure is nice seeing you again!

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Well, I missed the fact that you were pasting from Excel. I somehow misread
your comments about tabs and thought you had tabbed columns (originating in
Word) and were converting them to a table, so I may be off the mark in other
ways as well. If (as I now gather) you're pasting from Excel as a table and
converting to text, then you may need to adjust the placement of the tab
stops as well as the number of tab characters.

Another issue I've seen with material coming from Excel is that if you have
text in a cell that extends into the next cell (that is, the cell to the
right is empty, and the text in the cell is not wrapped), Word will
interpret those two cells as merged, which could affect the conversion as
well.

If you were actually working in a table, you would right-click in the table
and choose Table Properties. On the Table tab, click Options... and clear
the check box for "Automatically resize to fit contents" (you can accomplish
the same thing by selecting Table | AutoFit | Fixed Column Width). Close the
Options dialog and back on the Table tab, check the box for "Preferred
width," set the unit of measure to percent, and type in 100.

 

[Tampa-Terry]

Boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, oh, boy, does that look nice!!! It worked like a
charm, Suzanne!!! That's the best this recipe has looked format-wise, being
pulled over from Excel EVER!!! And with the least amount of clicking and
reformatting and pulling out my hair, too!!!

Let me know if you'd like my recipe for Five Spice Lamb Shanks w/ Tamarind &
Ginger. (grin)

Is there a way to get Word to default to NOT automatically resize to fit
contents and have Preferred Width default to percent?

This is already a God-send ... getting things streamlined to this point.
Thank you.

T...

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Well, I'm glad that worked for you! I was just reading the other day that
people in the U.S. don't eat lamb as often as those in the rest of the
world, and I was thinking I ought to do something with lamb, but I'm not
much of a cook. I found a good recipe for black bean soup that my husband
likes, and we're having the last of it over rice tonight. <g>