Failure to join

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6
01-12-2016 05:04 AM
WalterWitt
New Contributor III

I am trying to Join a shape file to an xls Table using a common attribute (CODE).

When I attempt to open up the resulting shape file I get the message in the attachment.

Anyone can help with this?

Walter Witt

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6 Replies
DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

Did you mean you were trying to join an excel file to a shapefile?  that is the direction that you need to go and you have to ensure that the data types in the join columns are the same

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WalterWitt
New Contributor III

Yes, you are correct: actually, I was trying to join an xcel table to a shapefile. The join is based on a common Column with the same name in each. The column properties are String for the shape file and Text for the xcel Table. Any ideas?

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

something else was applied, since I don't understand the sql query.  I would suggest exporting the table into some other format and trying the join with it. ensuring the field names are short and have no spaces and all the other rules.  I am also wondering if you are doing this live linked .

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RebeccaStrauch__GISP
MVP Emeritus

Walter, do you want this to be a permanent attachment, or just something temporary?

If permanent, you may want to try Join Field—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop  which

Joins the contents of a table to another table based on a common attribute field. The input table is updated to contain the fields from the join table. You can select which fields from the join table will be added to the input table.

As Dan mentioned, you would want to add the fields to the shape file, not the other way around.  I would test on a copy of your shapefile to make sure it works the way you would like.  If you are still getting an error on your shapefile, and it was a temporary connection using Add Join—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop  you can try to see it you can Remove Join—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop and if the shape file it ok again.

BTW - When you get a change, you should look at Moving Content​ to see about moving this to a better Geonet spot...this one is for installing issues.  You can see all the different other locations GeoNet Community Structure

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WalterWitt
New Contributor III

Thank you for your attempts at helping me. I am afraid none of the suggestions provide a solution. I took my files and Arc map to another computer running Arc10.0 and the join was completed successfully in less than 30 seconds. This doesn't help me at home, or understand why I can't do the same on my home computer with Arc9.3.1.

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DanPatterson_Retired
MVP Emeritus

Now you will have to check for the differences that were instituted between 9.3 and 10.0 to find your solution.

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