One of the responsibilities of a USGenWeb State File Manager is to ensure the readability of the files in their Archive. Since most files are in text format, this page is to give general tips and explore various methods for giving text files a pleasing appearance.

There are really only three things you have to think about to ensure readability:

• How wide is your text?
• Do your columns line up?
• Is your file double spaced?

HOW WIDE IS YOUR TEXT?

The width of most screens is 80 characters. In most cases, you should endeavor to keep it at this length to avoid forcing the reader to scroll right on every line. In some cases where a wide table format with multiple columns is used, for example, the census, it is impossible to keep it to this width. In those cases, it would probably be worse to break it up.

Keeping your file to 80 characters is very simple. Simply put a hard return at the end of every line on you screen. Some programs will automatically convert if a "save as text with line breaks" option is given.

DO YOUR COLUMNS LINE UP?

This is the hard part. Text format does not recognize tabs, tables, or other methods of easily formating columns. The only thing it does recognize is spaces. How to get these spaces in is the question! You could, of course, do it the old-fashioned, hard way of manually typing in all these spaces, but if you actually have a life and would like to have the time to live it, there are several other methods available to take care of those pesky spaces! These are presented below based on the software you have available. Click on the appropriate one and you will get a detailed explanation.

• Using any word processor and MS Access
• Using MS Excel
• Converting tables to text
• Using WordPad & NotePad
• Using that Mac stuff
• TextPad Text Manipulator Software
• any more?

IS YOUR FILE DOUBLE SPACED?

You don't want it to be. Much harder to read. If it is double spaced, it is usually because you transfered it as a binary file instead of as a text or ascii file. This is a common mistake but easily remedied. Just retransfer the file as an ascii file.

Using any word processor and MS Access

• 1. In your word processor, remove all but the text that is in columns. (Save all header & footer info in a separate file to be added back in after you have lined up the columns.)
• 2. If in table format, convert it to text format.
• 3. Use the global replace function to change all tabs or large chunks of space (whatever was previously used to line up the columns). Replace them with a unique character such as * or %.
• 4. Make sure there are hard returns at the end of each line.
• 5. Make sure you have no blank spots. This will confuse Access & it will reject the file. Replace blank spots with dashes or n/a or something similar. You can always replace them back to blanks after Access lines the columns up.
• 6. When importing, Access will use the first line to determine if that field is a text field or a numerical field. In other words, if a field in the first row contains numbers, Access will expect every entry in that column to be a number. If it is not, it will give you errors and reject those lines. I always recommend you make sure the first row is all text, even if you have to make up a "dummy" row.
• 7. Now your word processor file is ready to be imported into Access.
  • Start Access.
  • Select or create a database.
  • Click IMPORT.
  • Data Source: Text(delimited).
  • Select your text file. Click IMPORT.
  • Click OPTIONS. Specify your delimiter as "none" and your field separator as that unique character you put in place of the tabs. Save it. Click OK.
  • Access will import the file & tell you how many records there are and how many errors there were. If there are errors, check those lines for all the things you were supposed to do in the word processor. Chances are there is a blank space somewhere or text where a number should be.
  • If all is well, click EXPORT.
  • Data Destination: Text(Fixed Width)
  • Select your table.
  • Select your file name (I always use the same .txt name)
  • Click EDIT SPECS.
  • Click "Fill Specification Grid from Table" and choose your table. Adjust the Start and Width numbers so the columns will be the sizes you want them to be. Access will fill it up with spaces to make all your columns magically line up.
  • Save it. Click OK.
  • Make sure the Specification Name you just saved is showing in the box and click OK.
  • Exit Access.
• 8. Back in the word processor, add the header and footer information back into the text file. In some word processors, the text file will still not appear to lined up. This is because of the font. If this is the case, start up your browser without going on line, open the text file and check to make sure everything looks good. (Note: you generally cannot have the same file open in two places at once so you will have to close it in the word processor first.) Alternatively, you can adjust your font to a fixed pitch font such as courier.

Using MS Excel

• A. Creating a table from scratch
  • 1. Use a blank spreadsheet to enter your data. Put a header at the top of each column that you are going to use. I have found that it is easier to read (and create a search engine for the data) if you put the last name in one column and the first name(s) and titles (such as Mrs., Dr. or Jr.) in a second column. Use additional columns as needed depending upon the type of records you are transcribing. Choose a fixed pitch font, such as "courier" for the spreadsheet.
  • 2. Don't worry about keeping the names in alphabetical order, Excel will alphabetize for you when you are done.
  • 3. When you have entered all of your data, adjust the width of your columns so that your data does not get cut off. Use the "Data - Sort" option to alphabetize your list. Be sure to check the "Header Row" radio button.
  • 4. Save your file as an Excel file (in case you need to make modifications later - saves having to import the text file).
  • 5. Now choose "File --- Save as..." from the menu bar. At the bottom of the dialog box that pops up is a pulldown menu called "Save as type:" Click on the little arrow and choose the option "Formatted text (Space delimited)" and save the file. This is your web-ready file!! Use WordPad to look at it and make sure your data looks good. If it looks good in WordPad, it will look good on the web.
• B. Converting a table sent by a volunteer -- works for either text files or data base files (does *NOT* work on MS Works files - ask your volunteer to open Works and then "Save As..." an Excel file!!)
  • 1. Start up Excel and use "File - Open" to open the donated file.
  • 2. Unless the file is in a strange format, a dialog box opens up with the data. There are two or three steps to importing the data into Excel. It usually takes me 30 seconds to import a file, adjust the column widths, alphabetize, and export as a space delimited text file.
  • 3.The first step is to choose what line to begin the import with. If there is a descriptive paragraph at the beginning of the file, I usually skip down to the first line of the table. Then hit the "Next" button.
  • 4. The next step is to choose whether the file uses tabs, commas or some other character as a delimiter. Usually Excel makes a pretty good guess as to where the columns should go. You can add or delete column lines by clicking on them. Them hit the "Next" button.
  • 5. Lastly, watch any column that has dates in it. Excel tries very hard to screw them up, especially dates around 1900-1910 -- it makes them 2000!! In this step, change the attribute on any column that has dates in it from "General" to "Text" and Excel will not touch the dates. Hit the "finish" button and the text file should be imported into Excel. Now you can go to Step 3 in Part A above and finish up.

Converting Tables to Text