Best kept secret??? I don't think so. And the entire article could have been written in 7 lines: 

Highlight Query
Ctrl+Shift+O (Options window)
Ctrl+Tab, Ctrl+Tab (Switch to Resuts tab)
Alt+E, T, Enter (Select Tab Delimiter and exit)
Ctrl+E (Execute Query)
In results window: Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C (Copy resuts)
In Excel doc: Ctrl+V (Paste to spreadsheet)

How about 1 line?

Just Right Click the empty cell on the upper left of your results grid, and click Save As..   This is the quickest way to dump your resutls to CSV.  (No column headers, though)

I can't believe you posted this

The whole point of the article was to get column headers in.

Although the article is decent, it sets up expectations immediately that it cannot meet.

1) The title implies new knowledge that isn't common, but in fact I have been doing this with other products and was well aware as most that this worked this way.

2) You bring in the fact headers cannot be copied from grid mode but your focus is text mode. The fact still remains that you cannot get it from grid mode (at least not without a specialized utility).

I would suggest (my opinion and based on guidelines for effective writing) you weigh your article next time for the commens that set expectations that must be met and remove them if they are not explicitly met. Otherwise you did present valid information.

I have been doing this for years, it is the greatest quikie adhoc reporting tool.  Worth repeating...

Left out a step though , To always make sure you get lengthy column results:

Set the value >> Tools... Options... Results... Maximum characters per column = 8100

Sorry am I missing something here?

You can export to Excel including the column headers from any table or view.

Simply click on the first column header of your results, drag along the top to highlight all the other columns (i.e. so it all goes black) hit Ctrl+C then open a new Excel sheet click in cell A1 and hit Ctrl+V.

This works for me using Enterprise Manager V8 and Excel 2003.

Tim.

Try this vbs script

Dim connectionString
'The connection string goes here
connectionString = "Provider = SQLOLEDB;Data Source=(local);" & _
        "Trusted_Connection=Yes;Initial Catalog=Northwind;" 

Dim Query
' The query goes here
Query = "SELECT  CompanyName, count(o.CustomerID) as Total" & vbCrLf & _
"FROM Northwind.dbo.Orders o" & vbCrLf & _
"Inner Join Northwind.dbo.Customers c on o.CustomerID = c.CustomerID" & vbCrLf & _
"Group by CompanyName" 

Const adOpenStatic = 3
Const adLockOptimistic = 3
Dim i

const xlColumnClustered = 51
const xl3DColumnClustered = 54
const xl3DColumn = -4100
const xlBarClustered = 57
const xl3DBarClustered = 60

const xlLineMarkers = 65
const xl3DLine = -4101

const xlPie = 5
const xlPieExploded = 69
const xl3DPie = -4102
const xl3DPieExploded = 70

const xlArea = 1
const xl3DArea = -4098

const xlSurface = 83

const xlCylinderColClustered = 92
const xlCylinderBarClustered = 95

const xlConeColClustered = 99
const xlConeBarClustered = 102

const xlPyramidBarClustered = 109
const xlPyramidColClustered = 106 

 

Set objConnection = CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
Set objRecordSet = CreateObject("ADODB.Recordset")

objConnection.Open connectionString
   
' creating the Excel object application
Set objExcel = CreateObject("Excel.Application")
objExcel.Visible = True

objExcel.ScreenUpdating = False

Set objWorkbook = objExcel.Workbooks.Add()
Set objWorksheet = objWorkbook.Worksheets(1)

'msgBox Query

objRecordSet.Open Query , objConnection, adOpenStatic, adLockOptimistic
i = 1

objRecordSet.MoveFirst

Do Until objRecordset.EOF
 i = i + 1

' This is setting the column names, font, colors, etc.
' This code can be simplified by ranging if desired.
 objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Value = "Company Name"
 objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Font.Size = 10
 objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Font.Bold = TRUE
 objExcel.Cells(1, 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 6  
 objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Value = "Total"
 objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Font.Size = 10
 objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Font.Bold = TRUE
 objExcel.Cells(1, 2).Interior.ColorIndex = 6
 
' Now we are getting the data and highlighting certain columns
 objExcel.Cells(i, 1).Value = objRecordset.Fields.Item("CompanyName")
 objExcel.Cells(i, 1).Font.Size = 10
 objExcel.Cells(i, 1).Borders.LineStyle = True
 objExcel.Cells(i, 2).Value = objRecordset.Fields.Item("Total")
 objExcel.Cells(i, 2).Font.Size = 10
 objExcel.Cells(i, 2).Borders.LineStyle = True
  
 objRecordset.MoveNext
 
 objExcel.Range("A1:B1").Borders.LineStyle = True
 
Loop

' automatically fits the data to the columns
Set objRange = objWorksheet.UsedRange
objRange.EntireColumn.Autofit()

'Create a chart
objRange.Activate
objWorkbook.Charts.Add
objWorkbook.ActiveChart.ChartType = xlCylinderColClustered
objWorkbook.ActiveChart.SetSourceData objRange, 1
objWorkbook.ActiveChart.Location 2, "Sheet1"

objExcel.ScreenUpdating = True

' cleaning up
objRecordSet.Close
objConnection.Close

a chart as well!  I know, I'm showing off

Dave Jackson