Convert each sheet in an Excel file to a separate pipe delimited text file

Shiji Pan

1 year ago

Want to convert each sheet data in an Excel file to a separate TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file at one time?

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Convert each sheet data in an Excel file to a separate TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) file

Click “Start a New Convert” at task dialog.

then show the wizard.

Select From “File” “Excel” To “Files” “TXT”.

List selected sheets.

After converting, you can view output TXT (“|” pipe delimited text) files.

You can schedule and automate this Excel sheet to TXT converting task by:

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Of course! DataFileConverter convert each Excel sheet to a separate TXT file locally, absolutely safe.

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Yes, you can. DataFileConverter can running in command line, on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.

Value kind	in EXCEL	in Pipe-delimited
Int	`1234 (a real numeric cell)`	`1234`
Bigint	`9007199254740993 (exact only while the cell stays text)`	`9007199254740993`
Decimal	`1234.56 (numeric cell, format controls the displayed decimals)`	`1234.56`
Float	`1.234E+10 (numeric cell)`	`1.234e+10`
Text	`text cell; leading zeros survive only if the column is text`	`quoted only when it contains a pipe or a quote`
Long text	`text cell; wraps inside the cell rather than the row`	`must be quoted; line breaks inside force multi-line records`
Date	`a serial number plus a date cell format`	`2026-09-18`
Datetime	`a serial number plus a date-time cell format`	`2026-09-18 14:30:00`
Binary	`not representable as data`	`not representable - base64 or hex string`
Boolean	`TRUE / FALSE (a real boolean cell)`	`TRUE / FALSE, or 1 / 0 depending on the writer`
JSON	`a text cell; the quotes are part of the value`	`the whole JSON value quoted, with internal quotes doubled`

Both EXCEL and Pipe-delimited are file formats, so what differs below is how each one chooses to represent a value.

Property	in EXCEL	in Pipe-delimited
identifiers	`Not applicable; a cell holds exactly one value`	`Double quotes; a literal quote is doubled ("" )`
dates	`Stored as a serial number; only the cell format makes it lo...`	`Conventional text: 2026-09-18 or 2026-09-18 14:30:00`
binary	`Only as text or an embedded object, not as a data column`	`Not supported`
separator	`Cells, not delimiters`	`Pipe "\|"`
encoding	`UTF-8 internally, declared in the package`	`No declaration - UTF-8 works only with a BOM`
typing	`Real cell types: text, number, date, boolean, error`	`None - every field is text`
shape	`Multiple sheets, each a flat grid`	`Flat table, optional header row`
ceiling	`1,048,576 rows x 16,384 columns per sheet; 255 sheets per w...`	`No formal limit; row count bounded by memory`

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