This is not a decision being made by RODBC... it is in the Microsoft ODBC driver for Excel. If you really want to know more, you can read http://www.dicks-blog.com/archives/2004/06/03/external-data-mixed-types/ ...

but the best solution is to take your data out of Excel and only use xls/xlsx formats for data output (if at all).
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Albert-Jan Roskam <fomcl@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hello, How can I tell RODBC to scan all the records of an xls file to determine the data type? If the first n records happen to be empty Rodbc assumes a character, and any numbers are made <NA>. And if, for instance, the first n records contain numbers, and later they also contain characters, those characters become NA. Cheers!! Albert-Jan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 	[[alternative HTML version deleted]]_____________________________________________
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