You can convert OpenOffice.org text documents to Excel with the text import tool. Save the text document with the .txt file extension, open it in Excel and save it as an Excel spreadsheet.

If the DAT file you're trying to open is text, you can convert the file into text in the Microsoft Excel program by first saving it as a CSV file.

Edmond Woychowsky walks you through his process, including all the necessary sample code, to convert an XML file to an Excel spreadsheet.

This post explains how to write to a file in Python. You'll discover how to create word files (.docx), spreadsheets (.csv), text files, and more!