>Thanks very much for responding. Using the Text datatype and allowing nulls sounds good to me, otherwise I could end up with overflows when I send my data back to the server. It was the mimimum 2K per record that I was really worried about.

I use a var255 field *and* a text field. The var 255 field catches most values, leaving the text field null so it doesn't use a 2k page. If the length of the data is > 255, I store the overflow in the Text field. I think this is the most efficient use of disk space, although it takes a little manipulation on your front end. Some people use 3 or 4 var255 fields instead of a text field.