ClarisWorks: Converting Comma Separated Text (ASCII) Files to Tab Separated Text

ClarisWorks does not import comma separated text files into the database or spreadsheet. You can convert a comma separated text file to a tab separated text file by doing the following steps.

This information was provided by Claris Corporation on 16 March 1998, and incorporated into Apple Computer's Tech Info Library.

Open the text file as a Word Processing document. (Select Word Processing as document type.)

Choose Find/Replace from the Edit menu.

Enter: "," (quote comma quote) in the Find box, and enter: \\t (the symbol for a tab) in the Change box. Click on Change All.

Now do one more Find/Replace, this time enter: " (quote) in the Find box, and enter a space in the Change box. Click on Change All.

Choose Save as... from the File menu for this document and save it as Text.

Now you have a tab separated text document. When you open this document as a Database (select Database as document type) it will create the fields and convert the data automatically.

This works great for data such as names and addresses, but can be a little tricky if you are importing fields with quotes or tabs contained in the text.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012