 <p>Manually: You can use String.Split() method to split your entire file. Here is an example of what i use in my code. In this example, i read the data line by line and split it. I then place the data directly into columns. </p> <pre><code> //Open and read the file System.IO.FileStream fs = new System.IO.FileStream("myfilename", System.IO.FileMode.Open); System.IO.StreamReader sr = new System.IO.StreamReader(fs); string line = ""; line = sr.ReadLine(); string[] colVal; try { //clear of previous data //myDataTable.Clear(); //for each reccord insert it into a row while (!sr.EndOfStream) { line = sr.ReadLine(); colVal = line.Split('\t'); DataRow dataRow = myDataTable.NewRow(); //associate values with the columns dataRow["col1"] = colVal[0]; dataRow["col2"] = colVal[1]; dataRow["col3"] = colVal[2]; //add the row to the table myDataTable.Rows.Add(dataRow); } //close the stream sr.Close(); //binds the dataset tothe grid view. BindingSource bs = new BindingSource(); bs.DataSource = myDataSet; bs.DataMember = myDataTable.TableName; myGridView.DataSource = bs; } </code></pre> <p>You could modify it to do some loops for columns if you have many and they are numbered. Also, i recommend checking the integrity first, by checking that the number of columns read is correct.</p>