Humanly Read Tab Delimited TXT Files

Question

Normally I work with Comma Delimited CSV files, and whenever I need to scan over the data, I just open it up in Excel, and there it is, organised neatly into columns.

However, on this occasion I have been given a tab delimited text file. If I open it up in MS Notepad, because the values and headings are all variable and different widths, the data is very disjointed. Easy for a computer to read. Not easy for me to read!

So far I have tried Notepad, Excel and Sublime Text.

Is there a program that will display a tab delimited text file, organised into humanly readable columns?

Thanks

Answer 1

OK, so it just required a few tweaks in Excel for it to format correctly.

I first changed the file extension from .txt to .csv and followed this guide:

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-convert-delimited-text-files-into-excel-spreadsheets/

In short:

1. Open the file in MS Excel.
2. Highlight the first column (which is where all your data will be)
3. Select the Data tab in the File menu.
4. Select Text to Columns and follow the Wizard

Answer 2

I hope notepad++ can help you here.

Please try: http://notepad-plus-plus.org/