Export Excel to a pipe delimited text file
SEO May 14th, 2008Yes, you can set a pipe rather than a comma as a delimiter. It does not depend completely on Excel. It depends on Windows. The quickest way is to save the file as a CSV file.
To change the default on your PC to a pipe rather than a comma bring up your default options window by clicking Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Regional Settings.
Click the “Number” tab and in the “List Separator” field, replace the current default separator with the one you want to use (let’s say a pipe symbol | ).
Click “OK” to save the change and close the window. You can now save Excel files as pipe delimited files by simply doing the following in Excel:
Open or Create a new file in Excel.
Click File => Save As on the menu bar.
In the “File Type” drop down, select “CSV (comma separated values) *.csv”.

June 4th, 2008 at 10:02 am
Good advice, worked perfectly, thanks
July 23rd, 2008 at 6:49 am
Thanks for the solution. I can’t believe the people who designed the Excel 2007 made us have to change regional settings in order to export one file. Who thought that was a good idea?
Am I alone in thinking Excel 2007 is the worst version of Excel ever? It’s nice to have more rows but honestly, I want menus back.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:50 am
Don’t forget that once the .csv file has been created, changed the extension of the file from .csv to .txt. Open the file and you’ll see the delimiter of choice.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Excellent and Great help! Worked perfectly.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
SUPER!!!
March 23rd, 2009 at 11:06 am
Better than the Easy Button. The guys receiving the file will with a pipe delimiter will be very happy.
Thanks for the excellent guidance.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:55 am
Great solution! Thanks.