Excel Linking Problem

Hello all,

I am having trouble linking to an excel worksheet. One column is
predominately numerical but must be linked as text. It is formatted as text
in the worksheet. Access insists on converting this column to a number
field. In an attempt to correct the problem, I inserted some temporary rows
as the top of the worksheet and entered text in these rows. Upon linking,
Access correctly assigns the field as text, however, when I deleted the
temporary rows, the linked table field reverted back to a number. I will
likely end up using ADO to access this worksheet, but I'd sure like to know
how to work around this "feature".

Thanks for any input.

LaVern

Spreadsheets are much more flexible in their data types and even when you specify a data type for a column, you can still insert data that deviates. Therefore, Access can't trust the given data type and so attempts to determine it for itself. If you cannot leave the dummy row in the spreadsheet (perhaps you could use some value that you could ignore in all your other queries), then you could import the spreadsheet into a table that has the proper column data types already defined.
--
Bridge Players know all the Tricks


"LGC" wrote:

Hello all,

I am having trouble linking to an excel worksheet. One column is
predominately numerical but must be linked as text. It is formatted as text
in the worksheet. Access insists on converting this column to a number
field. In an attempt to correct the problem, I inserted some temporary rows
as the top of the worksheet and entered text in these rows. Upon linking,
Access correctly assigns the field as text, however, when I deleted the
temporary rows, the linked table field reverted back to a number. I will
likely end up using ADO to access this worksheet, but I'd sure like to know
how to work around this "feature".

Thanks for any input.

LaVern