wrong field types when adding table

Question

i have a large excel file(.xlsx) (70,000+ rows) that i am trying to bring into arcmap. when i add it, everything seems to work except for this one field that should be a string but the attribute table turns it into a double. as a result, all of the values are in arcmap except for the few that were actual numbers. i cannot for the life of me fix this issue. i've tried everything i can think of in excel, and i've even tried using a raw .csv file. no matter what i do, arcmap never fails to turn the field into a double resulting in a column of values. does anyone know what the problem is and how to fix it? thanks

austinkasserman · Answer

Try adding your file with that shows the Null values into the ArcMap. Check to see if they are still Null in the Attribute table. Without doing anything else, try exporting the data to a DBF file. To do so right click on the table > Data > Export Data. Choose a location to export to and set the save as type to dBASE which will add the .DBF extension. When the export is done add it to the map and check the attribute table again.

In excel (or any text editor), the values are fine, not Null. In the arcmap attribute table, whether it be a csv, txt, xls, xlsx or dbf, the field is assumed to be of type 'double' when it should be of type 'string'. When I exported as a dbf as you suggested, the dbf file contained zero's instead of nulls, but still not the proper values.

Please, any other ideas?

Thanks

StephanieWendel · Answer

Try adding your file with that shows the Null values into the ArcMap. Check to see if they are still Null in the Attribute table. Without doing anything else, try exporting the data to a DBF file. To do so right click on the table > Data > Export Data. Choose a location to export to and set the save as type to dBASE which will add the .DBF extension. When the export is done add it to the map and check the attribute table again.