I once made a solemn vow that I would NEVER post to S-News, but..... Since
I work in a heterogeneous computing environment, I am continually shipping
data back and forth between applications and operating platforms. I have
learned from trusty coworkers that there are many problems interacting with
Excel when text fields are concerned. For instance, when I need to import
Excel data into SAS on a Unix box, I am safer converting the .xls to a .csv
file, not a .txt file because Excel itself truncates text fields to 32
characters in the conversion. Other stat software lists also have
frequent reports of problems with Excel. Another example involves
importing text in Excel that is formatted as "General". Good luck on that
one. Also, when you import into Excel, Excel itself makes odd decisions
about fields, based on the contents of the first couple of rows of your
data. I don't presume to be an expert on these issues, just admitting to
having been burned. My conclusion: Eternal vigilance and not jumping to
conclusions about which end of a two-way communication is at fault are
required here in the trenches.
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