dts package help

I'm creating my first dts package. I've specified my sql server connection and my excel file connection. I've added a bulk insert to import my excel data into a work table.

I've specified the row delimiter format as {LF} and Tab for column, but when I try to execute the dts package it fails and I get the following message:

Bulk Insert fails: Column is too long in the data file for row 1, column 3. Make sure the field terminator area specified correctly.
Bulk Insert data conversion error (truncation) for row 1, column 2 (LastName).

I don't understand why I'm getting a truncation error, there should be plenty of space for the insertion? I'm missing something simple I'm sure.

Any help is appreciated.Why are you specifying bulk insert with {LF} and Tab delimiters? Excel does not store data in that format, and that is why your DTS package can't import it using that format.|||This is the first DTS package I'm attempting to create, so I apologize if my questions are novice. When I added the bulk insert it asks to the specify a format for the row and column delimiter. Isn't the row delimiter a carriage return and the column delimiter a tab in an Excel file? What should I be using? I'm using DTS designer in SQL Server 2000.

I appreciate the help. Thank you.|||You probably want to create a connection to your Excel file as an Excel file, rather than as a text file. Excel files do not have row or column delimiters because the file format itself logically provides those delimiters.

-PatP|||I double checked and I did specify an Excel file as the connection, not a text file.

It's when I specify the Bulk Inset task that I have the option of setting a format type or format file. I've tried both options, but still get the same error?|||Assuming you are using SQL 2000, create an "idiot" spreadsheet with two or three columns and then create a DTS job to import it into a table using the Import Export Wizard. Save that job, and look at it to see how the Wizard did the import.

-PatP|||You want to use an Excel connection as the source, a Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server as the destination, and a Transform Data Task to move your records.