1. In Step 2 of the Text Import Wizard, do one of the following:
   • For delimited columns, click the character the file uses to separate the columns under Delimiters.
   • For fixed-width columns, set break lines to indicate the divisions between the columns.
2. Click Next to move to Step 3 of the wizard.
3. In the Data preview area of Step 3, click the first column you want to omit, and then click Do not import column (skip) under Column data format. To view enough of the data in a column to tell whether you want to keep or omit it, use the vertical scroll bar in the Data preview area.
4. Repeat step 3 until you've excluded enough columns so that 256 or fewer columns remain to be imported.
5. Click Finish. In the Import Data dialog box, make sure Existing worksheet is selected and the box contains =$A$1, and then click OK.

If you still have more than 256 columns selected, Excel displays the following message.

You can click Cancel and then repeat the import procedure to exclude more columns.

Note  You can access the Text Import Wizard any time you need to by pointing to Get External Data on the Data menu, clicking Import Text File, and, in the Import Text File dialog box, locating your file and then clicking Import.

Refreshing the data when your text file changes

After you complete importing the data and saving your workbook, Excel will remember the steps you followed and all of your import settings, including which columns go on which worksheet and which columns you skipped. When you get an updated text file, follow the steps below to import the new data:

1. In the Excel workbook, click a cell in the range of imported data. The External Data toolbar appears.
2. On the External Data toolbar, click the Refresh Data button.
3. In the Import Text File dialog box, locate the updated version of the text file, and then click Import.

More information

For more information about importing text files, type importing text in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Excel Help window, and then click Search.

For more information about working with external data ranges, type formatting external data ranges in the Office Assistant or on the Answer Wizard tab in the Excel Help window, and then click Search.