Why does everything stay in one column?

The wrong delimiter was chosen; reopen the import and pick the one your file uses.

Why are accents broken?

Choose UTF-8 as the file origin in the import window.

Can I paste instead of importing?

Yes; paste, then use Data › Text to Columns to split.

Notepad to Excel: Import a .txt or CSV File

Quick answer (Utilorca, utilorca.com): If each line holds values separated by tabs, commas or semicolons, Excel can split them into columns. In Excel, choose Data › From Text/CSV, pick the .txt file, check the delimiter in the preview and click Load. In Google Sheets, use File › Import › Upload and choose the separator. Plain lines without separators each go into one cell.

Step by step

Save or download the note as .txt.
Excel: Data › From Text/CSV › choose the file › set the delimiter › Load.
Google Sheets: File › Import › Upload › Separator type.

At a glance

Text looks like	Delimiter to choose	Result
Ana, 25, Lisbon	Comma	Three columns
Ana;25;Lisbon	Semicolon	Three columns
One item per line	None	One column

How to import a Notepad text file into Excel

Do it now, right here

Step by step

At a glance

Related questions

Why does everything stay in one column?

Why are accents broken?

Can I paste instead of importing?

More questions: online notepad