importing data?

[andrew]

I would like to know if there is anything I should be aware of when importing data from an excel spreadsheet to a SQL database.

I was trying to import data but I am finding it is not working.

I can get one entry to import as a test but when it comes to the complete data it just hangs without any explanation to why.

The fields are all correct I believe

Is there sometimes a problem with importing large ammounts of data to SQL using excel.

Please can you help in the sequence

thanks

[knicholson]

Andrew,

I have done this many times. Some of the things I have observed are:

1. The first row is assumed to be columns.
2. It will convert each page in your excel workbook to a seperate table.
3. It is good to click on Translate to see what variable types and lengths are going to exist in your new table.

I hope this helps.

Ken

[skarasik]

Here's another problem to that may occur:

If an excel column has both text in some cells, and numbers in others, SQL gets confused. It will assume that the column is one, or the other, and reject some values.

Only one way around this. In excel, use a macro to append a single quote in front of the value. (do not close the quote). Then excel will treat the numbers as characters, and so will SQL.

Another pitfall: excel spreadsheets limit you to 65K records.

Best of luck.