By default, the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC sets both the format width and the number of columns of the corresponding IBM SPSS Statistics string variable to the value of the MDM variable's EffectiveMaxValue property.

To change the format of the IBM SPSS Statistics variable, set the Width and Max properties (See Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC) on the MDM text variable before you write the .sav file.

To set the maximum width of all string variables in the .sav file, use the DefTextVarSize property (see Properties and settings used by the SPSS Statistics SAV DSC).

If you intend to read your .sav file using IBM SPSS Statistics 12 or earlier, be aware that string variables had a limit of 255 bytes in those versions of IBM SPSS Statistics, and will truncate any string value that exceeds that limit.