Access 97 import and export of text and HTML not working

[Wandering]

I know you guys are heavy duty coders, while I do ad-hoc analysis, and
rarely write code. And, I may be in the wrong groups because this is
about an install issue, and I don't think it's a code issue. But ...

Office 2000 was on this machine when it was given to me. I don't own
it. After installing Office 97, mine, in a different directory, and
checking most of it out, I uninstalled Office 2000.

Well, it's a lot easier to upgrade than downgrade....

I discovered, eventually, that a number of things were broken in
Office 97, and got to the point where it seemed that it was not
installing it's own versions of similarly named files, as they were
older than the existing Office 2000 files which 97 cannot seem to use
and 2000 had not removed.

I did not want to spend months recustomizing all the other apps on the
machine, so I simply uninstalled Office 97 - nope, it wouldn't touch
that 2000 stuff in the process. Then I went nuts, and deleted anything
I could find that looked like it might be any way related to Office. I
cleaned the registry, reinstalled Win 98, and Office 97. Win found
nearly all my apps, and Office 97 works great, including the other
Office 97 apps handling of text files. Access simply does not have
that choice on the import or export menus.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled many times, and Office Setup always
said it was successful, but it never is, and it shows that it cannot
remove or reinstall those files when I use the custom routine.

If someone could tell me the names of the files, I could blow them
away, or move them, reinstall again, hopefully with Office 97 Setup
finally willing to put its own versions in. Then if something else
breaks, I can decide which is most important.

For you old guys like me, I cut my teeth on dBASE II. But, once I
could get serious analysis done without writing lines of code,
Paradox, Reflex, Access, I never looked back. So, my workaround here
was to install my ancient copy of dBASE IV, and use it to import the
text files - too big for Excel - and then I imported the dBASE file
into Access. They have about 130 fields each, and from 250,000 to
4,000,000 lines each. It would be a lot easier to simply use the
Access Wizard, especially since the documentation that describes these
text files is not accurate - is any doc ever? - and a number of tries
are required to get them right.

This is probably more than you wanted to know. If I am in the wrong
place, just tell me. I have tried before, and had no response. I know
you are busy, and the dBASE method works. But, boy is it a lot of
work! Whew!

Thanks, Ray (Email address is valid)

[Wandering]

It is finished! Yep, it's solved. Please don't ask me why I couldn't
find it after an hour of searching the KB with no result, and today
getting it on the first hit!

As I suspected, a file had to be deleted, uninstall the converters,
reinstall the converters, and presto-chango, we are in business. It
took less time than it did to print and read the articles..... or to
write these notes.

On the other hand, if anyone cares, and I suspect not, I still have to
use dBASE IV, because the wizard in access can't deal with such long
lines. Still, it's a win. I have other work that uses more reasonably
sized files, and dBASE IV isn't going anywhere.

Lastly, I have forgotten how fast DOS programs were. Sigh..... dBASE
just sucks up 200,000 lines in under 30 seconds. Access needs a few
minutes to read the resulting dBASE file.

Bye, and thanks for all the fish!

Ray
"Wandering" <Am******@hotmail.comwrote in message
news:bO******************************@comcast.com. ..
I know you guys are heavy duty coders, while I do ad-hoc analysis, and
rarely write code. And, I may be in the wrong groups because this is
about an install issue, and I don't think it's a code issue. But ...

Office 2000 was on this machine when it was given to me. I don't own
it. After installing Office 97, mine, in a different directory, and
checking most of it out, I uninstalled Office 2000.

Well, it's a lot easier to upgrade than downgrade....

I discovered, eventually, that a number of things were broken in
Office 97, and got to the point where it seemed that it was not
installing it's own versions of similarly named files, as they were
older than the existing Office 2000 files which 97 cannot seem to use
and 2000 had not removed.

I did not want to spend months recustomizing all the other apps on the
machine, so I simply uninstalled Office 97 - nope, it wouldn't touch
that 2000 stuff in the process. Then I went nuts, and deleted anything
I could find that looked like it might be any way related to Office. I

cleaned the registry, reinstalled Win 98, and Office 97. Win found
nearly all my apps, and Office 97 works great, including the other
Office 97 apps handling of text files. Access simply does not have
that choice on the import or export menus.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled many times, and Office Setup always
said it was successful, but it never is, and it shows that it cannot
remove or reinstall those files when I use the custom routine.

If someone could tell me the names of the files, I could blow them
away, or move them, reinstall again, hopefully with Office 97 Setup
finally willing to put its own versions in. Then if something else
breaks, I can decide which is most important.

For you old guys like me, I cut my teeth on dBASE II. But, once I
could get serious analysis done without writing lines of code,
Paradox, Reflex, Access, I never looked back. So, my workaround here
was to install my ancient copy of dBASE IV, and use it to import the
text files - too big for Excel - and then I imported the dBASE file
into Access. They have about 130 fields each, and from 250,000 to
4,000,000 lines each. It would be a lot easier to simply use the
Access Wizard, especially since the documentation that describes these
text files is not accurate - is any doc ever? - and a number of tries
are required to get them right.

This is probably more than you wanted to know. If I am in the wrong
place, just tell me. I have tried before, and had no response. I know
you are busy, and the dBASE method works. But, boy is it a lot of
work! Whew!

Thanks, Ray (Email address is valid)