Alan,

You can automate Excel to open the file and process it cell by cell from inside VFP.

oExcel = createobject( "excel.application" )
oExcel.Visible = .t.

oWorkbook = oExcel.Workbooks
oWorkbook.Open( "TheSpreadsheet.xls" )

oSheet = oExcel.ActiveSheet

for each oRow in oSheet.Rows
   ?? '.'
   with oRow
      for each oCol in oRow.Cloumns
         ? oCol.Value
      endwith
   endwith
endfor

oWorkbook.Close()
oExcel.Quit()

>I have a situation where I have data that comes to me in xls files. One of the colums can be very wide. In excess of 3000 characters.
>
>I have setup a table to append this data with that field being a memo field. When I append the xls file, the memo field is empty.
>
>Is there some better way to get the data into Fox table other than the append from command.