I'm not sure i understand 100% what you are wanting to do, but if you want to read .txt (.csv, etc) file and place the data in a data grid, this is one way to do it. Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load Dim data_table As New DataTable("Contacts") ' Define the columns. data_table.Columns.Add("Last Name", GetType(String)) data_table.Columns.Add("First Name", GetType(String)) data_table.Columns.Add("Phone Number", GetType(String)) data_table.Columns.Add("Email Address", GetType(String)) ' Create some data. AddTableRow(data_table, "Jackson", "Jennie", "787-878-8263", "JennieJackson@nowhere.com") AddTableRow(data_table, "Kevlar", "Kurt", "872-348-7263", "kurtk@militant.com") AddTableRow(data_table, "Llama", "Linda", "", "lllama@weaver.com") AddTableRow(data_table, "Mandrake", "Marcus", "398-787-4764", "marcus@marcusrocks.com") ' Bind the DataTable to the DataGrid. dgContacts.DataSource = data_table End Sub Private Sub AddTableRow(ByVal data_table As DataTable, ByVal last_name As String, ByVal first_name As String, ByVal phone_number As String, ByVal email_address As String) Dim data_row As DataRow data_row = data_table.NewRow() data_row.Item("Last Name") = last_name data_row.Item("First Name") = first_name data_row.Item("Phone Number") = phone_number data_row.Item("Email Address") = email_address data_table.Rows.Add(data_row) End Sub If you are using a datagrid you have to give it some fieldname info and that is what the first section (Define the columns) is for. If this isn't what you are looking for, then there is a way you can use a SQL Text Driver and process your .txt file with an SQL table. Let me know if you think that would work better and I will show you that code.