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The first column is best if formatted as text. The following revises the instructions given earlier:
In Newsletter No 35, I gave the steps to import an ASCII file from the Data Files page of my website to Excel. It has been brought to my notice that the first column (date) is tidier if specified as text. The revised instructions are as follows:
In Excel 2002 (XP) you do this:
Data
Import External Data
Import Data
Browse to the folder you have saved the ASCII file into
Set Files of Type to All Files
Double click on the ASCII file
Next
Next
Tick Text for Column A. Leave the other columns as General.
Finish
OK
If it is one of the advance-decline files (asxad or nysead), or the New High-New Low file (asxhl), you will need to construct an additional column accumulating the ADV-DECL column before you plot the chart.
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