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  #1  
Old 01-07-2019, 07:36 AM
tatihulot tatihulot is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 8 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2010 (Version 14.0)
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Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box
 
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Default Convert Text to Table: Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box

Hello, I am using Word 2016 as part of Office 365. I need a little bit of help with tables.




I want to create a two-column table, based on the list below. As you can see, the text and dates are separated by a dash (with a space in front of the date, and one after it).


I switched the option to commas for previous text. But in this text, there are commas, so that might add a column I don't need.


So, I'd like to use the ( - ) as the separator.
I'm having trouble doing that. Here are my steps:


1. Highlight the text.
2. Go into Insert, and select Convert Text to Table.
3. When the Convert Text to Table dialog box appears, I go to the bottom, where it says Separate Text At. I select Other.



The problem is this: I cannot enter anything at all in that box. Nothing.
I'm pretty sure there was a dash in there, when I first used Word to convert text to a table. But I think I cleared the box out. When I tried to put something else in its place, I was unable to. I haven't been able to enter anything in that box.


What am I doing wrong? How do I get a dash entered into that box? Thank you! T. Hulot

Butt Rockin' - 1981
Different Tacos - 1996
Fabulous Thunderbirds - 1993
Girls Go Wild - 2000
Greatest Hits - 1992
High Water - 1997
Hot Number - 1987
Hot Stuff (Best of) - 1992
Live - 2001
Milwaukee Summerfest Bootleg - 1985
Painted On - 2005
Portfolio - 1987
Powerful Stuff - 1989
Roll of the Dice - 1995
T Bird Rhythm - 1982
Tuff Enuff - 1986
Walk That Walk, Talk That Talk - 1991
What's The Word - 1980
Wrap It Up - 1993
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  #2  
Old 01-07-2019, 08:27 AM
tatihulot tatihulot is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 8 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2010 (Version 14.0)
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Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box
 
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Let me follow up on what I just posted...I did come up with a workaround for what I want to do. I figured out how to find & replace the dashes with tabs. So, I replace the ( - ) instances with tabs. I then use tabs to separate the text. But if I can get a dash in that Other box, it would save me a few steps. Not that the find & replace steps are a big pain, but every step saved is time saved.
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Old 01-07-2019, 09:03 AM
Moonshine Moonshine is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 10 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2016
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Out of interest, why do you want a dash to separate the text in a two column table?
I would have thought the 2nd column showing the dates was itself the separator.
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Old 01-07-2019, 09:08 AM
tatihulot tatihulot is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 8 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2010 (Version 14.0)
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I'm not exactly sure how to answer your question. Basically, I'm plugging the columns into Excel worksheets. I tried to convert the text to tables, but without something separating the text, it doesn't work for me. Using the dashes that are already there would seem to make things easier for me, but because the Other box is disabled (or seems to be), I have to convert the dashes to tabs to get my results.


I hope that answered the question, although I'm still not sure it does.
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  #5  
Old 01-08-2019, 12:34 AM
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gmayor gmayor is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 10 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2016
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Having copied your example to a document (and ensured that the line end characters are page breaks and not line breaks - which is the result of pasting from here) you can certainly convert text to a table using the hyphen character. Did you check the box for 'Other' character?


You will have to select each resulting column in turn then CTRL+E CTRL+L to clear the leading and trailing spaces.
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Old 01-08-2019, 08:25 AM
kilroy kilroy is offline Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Windows 10 Convert Text to Table:  Cannot Enter a Dash in Options Box Office 2016
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I copied your text and followed your steps and everything worked as it should with Word 2016. If you tried to copy the dash and inadvertently copied a space you would not be able to paste into "other" text box?? Only one character can be entered. Also I did notice that I had to press backspace in the "other" text box before I could enter the dash.
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