topic Changing attribute table field from string to numeric in order to join excel sheet in Esri Certified Individuals Questions https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-certified-individuals-questions/changing-attribute-table-field-from-string-to/m-p/831688#M50 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Hi,</P><P></P><P>I am trying to attach an excel sheet to one of my shapefiles but I am unable to because the fields in the attribute table of my shapefile are string instead of numeric. I followed the instructions on this how to page (<A class="link-titled" href="http://support.esri.com/technical-article/000002287" title="http://support.esri.com/technical-article/000002287">How To: Convert a string field to a number field</A>) by creating a new double field but I still was unable to properly join my excel sheet. I also tried changing the fields by opening&nbsp;the .dbf file of the shapefile in SPSS but when I saved the changes, they would disappear in when I opened the attribute table in GIS. Would someone be able to guide me in the right direction? I am using ArcMap 10.3.1</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 12 Jan 2017 16:20:32 GMT PayvandRzad 2017-01-12T16:20:32Z Changing attribute table field from string to numeric in order to join excel sheet https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-certified-individuals-questions/changing-attribute-table-field-from-string-to/m-p/831688#M50 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>Hi,</P><P></P><P>I am trying to attach an excel sheet to one of my shapefiles but I am unable to because the fields in the attribute table of my shapefile are string instead of numeric. I followed the instructions on this how to page (<A class="link-titled" href="http://support.esri.com/technical-article/000002287" title="http://support.esri.com/technical-article/000002287">How To: Convert a string field to a number field</A>) by creating a new double field but I still was unable to properly join my excel sheet. I also tried changing the fields by opening&nbsp;the .dbf file of the shapefile in SPSS but when I saved the changes, they would disappear in when I opened the attribute table in GIS. Would someone be able to guide me in the right direction? I am using ArcMap 10.3.1</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 12 Jan 2017 16:20:32 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-certified-individuals-questions/changing-attribute-table-field-from-string-to/m-p/831688#M50 PayvandRzad 2017-01-12T16:20:32Z Re: Changing attribute table field from string to numeric in order to join excel sheet https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-certified-individuals-questions/changing-attribute-table-field-from-string-to/m-p/831689#M51 <HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY><P>you might have a better chance if you produced a string field in excel, then use that in the join to the string field in the feature class. &nbsp;This is to try and mitigate numeric precision or floating point representation interfering with the join.</P></BODY></HTML> Thu, 12 Jan 2017 17:47:15 GMT https://community.esri.com/t5/esri-certified-individuals-questions/changing-attribute-table-field-from-string-to/m-p/831689#M51 DanPatterson_Retired 2017-01-12T17:47:15Z