In Excel I am combining some information from 2 tables into one. In both Tables I have a field which has both alpha & numeric data but even though the data is identical in both Tables, when I run MS Query the result omits all entries which have any alpha characters.



By way of example - some records simply have numbers (no larger than 1000, some have single letters while some others have both letters & numbers (eg 95B). The only records that the Query selects are those with only numeric characters.

What's happening here? And how can I make it select all records where the data matches even though there are both alpha and numeric characters?

Panic over!! I have discovered that if I format these fields as 'Text' instead of 'General' the Query works OK.

maybe this comment will help someone else!