Microsoft KB Archive/123003

= Error Adding 256 Fields Using Excel Data Source =

Article ID: 123003

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2005

-

APPLIES TO


 * 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

