Exporting Truncating Memo Fields

I have a query that is displaying exactly the correct results. However, when I export this to a text/tab delimited file (or even and XLS file) it truncates the memo field to 256 characters in the export file. I am sure it has something to do with this memo field being defined in part by a custom function. Below is the query and the function. The field in question is the "Formatting(First(description_text)) AS prod_Description" column. Any thoughts? Note: I know that if I don't perform the "First" on this memo field, during the group by, the query would truncate this to 256 characters becuase it has to be in the Group By clause. But by using the First function, this field does not need to be included in the group by and there for the query does not truncate it (even though the exporting does).

SELECT ProductList.cin_id AS prod_ID, Formatting([desc]) AS prod_Name, "" AS prod_Flag, "" AS prod_OverrideName, "" AS prod_SortName, Formatting(First(description_text)) AS prod_Description, "" AS prod_Bullets, ProductList.mfr AS prod_Mfr, "" AS prod_itemSort, "" AS prod_ProdGroup, "" AS prod_SubprodSequence, "" AS prod_Layout, "" AS prod_BaseProductID, "" AS prod_ItemSubheadAttr, "" AS prod_Keywords, "" AS prod_URL, "" AS prod_Type
FROM ProductList
GROUP BY ProductList.cin_id, Formatting([desc]), ProductList.mfr
HAVING (((ProductList.cin_id)<>''));

****

Public Function Formatting(Text As String) As String
Dim outString As String
outSring = ""
If Len(Text) > 0 Then
outString = Replace(Text, "<b>", "{")
outString = Replace(outString, "</b>", "}")
outString = Replace(outString, "<i>", "{i")
outString = Replace(outString, "</i>", "}")
outString = Replace(outString, "°", "°")
outString = Replace(outString, "™", "™")
outString = Replace(outString, "©", "©")
outString = Replace(outString, "'", "'")
outString = Replace(outString, "&reg;", "®")
outString = Replace(outString, "_{", "{^/")
outString = Replace(outString, "}", "^")
End If
Formatting = outString


End Function