Knowledge Base

Error Adding 256 Fields Using Excel Data Source

Article ID: 123003

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

Microsoft Excel 95 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 5.0 Standard Edition
Microsoft Query 2000

This article was previously published under Q123003

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Query, when you create a query using the Microsoft Excel data source, and you add a field or multiple fields to the query so that the number of fields in the query is greater than 255, you receive the following error message:

The number of output columns can't exceed 255

CAUSE

In Microsoft Query, you cannot add more than 255 fields to a query created with a data source that uses the single-tiered driver. Data sources that use the single-tiered driver are dBASE3, FoxPro, Excel, Paradox, Access 1.0, dBASE4, and Btrieve.

This behavior occurs even when you use the Microsoft Excel data source, even though in Microsoft Excel, you can create a worksheet that contains 256 columns of data. Because the same driver is used to read and create database files for Microsoft Access, each data source that uses this driver has the same limitation.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

110601 Microsoft Query: dBASE Files and Field Limits

REFERENCES

For more information about how to Add Fields (Cue Cards), choose the Search button in Help and type:

   fields: adding

Additional query words: 5.00 5.00c ISAM MSQuery

Keywords: KB123003