That's a good question. I don't know if there actually IS a way short of writing an Excel macro. The essay data were written that way (as separate files) in the first place because SPSS and Excel could not accommodate such (potentially) a large number of characters in one field/cell. Newer versions however can I think. Perhaps we ought to allow for an option to have the essay data written directly to the files now. Or maybe there is a simple way and I'm just forgetting. Personally, if it were me, I'd look into writing an Excel macro if you have a version of Excel that can handle stuffing that much data into its cells. If you (or anyone) has any luck with that, please post it here!!