Importing from an Excel spreadsheet - numbers/text

[StevenK]

We're attempting to import data from an Excel spreadsheet into a SQL Server table. When we try to do this we appear to be losing numeric data from one of the columns. The said column in the Excel spreadsheet contains both text strings and numbers (i.e. 'HJSHGK' and 90897). When we run the import of data through SQL Server Enterprise Manager we get the String data but all entries that were previously numeric were NULL in the resultant SQL Server table. We've tried formatting the column in Excel such that the numbers are recognised as text (using 'Format Column') but this still gives us the same result.
I'm guessing we're missing the obvious here - could someone pinpoint what it is ?
Thanks in advance
Steve

 

[StevenK]

We've managed to do this by saving the Excel spreadsheet as a Text (Tab Delimited) file and running the import.
Is there a more direct route ? (Excel directly into SQL Server)
If we put a single quote mark in front of the numeric column entries, these are then fed through as required (into the CHAR column type).
Any pointers would be appreciated.
Steve