Data exchange is possible between Access and Excel in both directions. To
import, the Excel worksheet should have a row of field names in row 1, the
Access table name in the tab description, data arranged in a tabular format
starting in row 2 with no labels, subtotal lines, etc., anywhere else. It
helps to delete all columns to the right and rows below your Excel data
range, which eliminates any extraneous entries that may have been there.
Access may generate a numeric datatype if, for instance, you have 12345 as
the first data row under ZipCode. You can set up the Excel constant as
'12345 which will result in the column being imported into Access as Text,
or change the ZipCode datatype to Text from Numeric after the import.
Manually use import/export from the File menu or if you're automating this
process use the TransferSpreadsheet method (see Help).
Key thing to remember is import/export works with a datarange; a rectangular
block of data only. You can't expect to be able to import a formatted
spreadsheet without writing lots of VBA code to transform data between
Access & Excel formats.
You can, with programming, create a fully formatted Excel spreadsheet from
Access, using Office Automation, using Access to drive the Excel object
model.
