Microsoft Access 2010 : Sharing Data with Other Applications - Exporting to ASCII

Right-click the object you want to export and select Export from the context menu. (Alternatively, you can select Text File from the Export group on the External Data tab of the Ribbon.) The Export menu expands.

Select Text File from the fly-out menu. The Export – Text File dialog appears (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Export Text File dialog box.

Select the destination folder and name for the text file.

Designate the export options and click OK. If you opt to export the data with formatting and layout, the Encode dialog appears (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Encode dialog box.

Select the desired encoding and click OK. The process completes, and the file appears as in Figure 3.

Figure 3. An exported file when export the data with formatting and layout is selected.

If you do not opt to export the data with formatting and layout, the Export Text Wizard appears (see Figure 4). This step allows you to select the export format that you want to use. You must select between Delimited and Fixed Width. These are two different text file formats that you may output to. The dialog provides samples of the output to help you make your selection.

Figure 4. The Export Text Wizard: step 1.

If you select Delimited and then click Advanced, the Text Export Specification dialog box appears (see Figure 5). Here you can designate the field delimiter, text qualifier, language, date order, and other specifics about the file you are exporting. You will modify these options to meet the specifications of the consumer of the file you are creating.

Figure 5. The Text Export Specification dialog box.

Select the desired settings, and then click OK.

Click Next.

Select the delimiter (see Figure 6).

Figure 6. The Export Text Wizard: step 2.

If you select Include Field Names on First Row, the output file will include all the field names in the first row. Click Next. The final step of the Export Text Wizard appears.

Type the appropriate destination in the Export to File text box.

Click Finish to complete the process, and then click Close to close the wizard.