slickshoot

I have a text document which contains data set out in columns, I am wanting to import this text file into a database but unfortunately the gaps between the data are spaces rather then tabs, I am basically wanting to create a tab delimted file. I found an article which described exactly what I wanted (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/155312/EN-US/) but appears to be for Word 97, I have word 2002 and the instructions don't seem to work. I am experiencing problems with the "find what" command, in the article it say to enter "<space>{2,}" but then when I try to replace the spaces with tabs, I get an error message which reads "the find what text contains a Pattern Match expression which is not valid" does anyone know where I'm going wrong or if there is any other way of converting the spaces to tabs in a text document? Thanks