I'm trying to import a database. It seems my most likely route is via Excel, so I've moved my tables in there.
Then I tried setting up Excel as a linked server as described in http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q321686
My linked server gets created apparently with no errors, but I can't see any contents when I click on it in the object explorer.
Anyone with more clues than me?
thanks
Just setting up the linked server doesn't do anything for the data - you have to issue a query against it. Linked servers are useful if you want to continue working with the data in Excel, but also see it in SQL Server.
If you're just looking to import the data from Excel into SQL Server, you can use Integration Services to do that much quicker, or you can save the Excel file as a comma-separated file (CSV) and use the command line tool called bcp to copy it in. More on both here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/321686
Buck Woody
