Yuri,
I tried .ActiveSheet.usedRange.Rows.count and I get datatype mismatch... I cannot locate the property in the debugger to determine what's wrong with it:

WITH oExcel
  .Workbooks.OPEN(lcXLSFile)

   *ORIGINAL LINE:
   *WITH .ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.RANGE(lcRange) && works but I have to guess the range

   *NEW LINE:
   WITH .ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count && <-error datatype mismatch

>I believe, you need USedRange:
>ObjExcel.ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Rows.Count
>
>This also may help:
>*xlLastCell=11
>ObjExcel.ActiveSheet.Range("A1").SpecialCells(xlLastCell).Address(.f.,.f.,-4150)
>
>>I have code that steps through the rows of a spreadsheet and populates a table with the values from some of the columns. However, it requires that I specify the range to work with when I open the worksheet. Is there anyway to determine the last row in the spreadsheet that is populated (not blank) without stepping through all of the rows? I know what column to check: 5. The values I am grabbing are in column five of the spreadsheet and there may be an error which would leave a blank row in the middle of the spreadsheet. The spreadsheet might actually have data in it until row 900 for instance...
>>
>>TIA,
>>Tracy
>>
>>

>>LOCAL lcXLSFile, lcRange, llfound, lncount, oExcel, lcvalue, lnlength, lcdir
>>lcRange = "a1:E1000" && just guessing range here!
>>llfound = .F.
>>lncount = 0
>>lcvalue = ''
>>lnlength = 0
>>lcdir = ''
>>
>>*--More stuff
>>
>>*--Loop through all xls files in the directory
>>FOR ifile = 1 TO ALEN(lafiles,1)
>>	m.fieldname = ''
>>	m.corder = ''
>>	m.cver = ''
>>	m.cform = ''
>>	IF TYPE('lafiles(ifile,1)')="C" .AND. !EMPTY(lafiles(ifile,1))
>>		lcXLSFile=lcdir+lafiles(ifile,1)
>>	ELSE
>>		LOOP
>>	ENDIF
>>	oExcel = CREATEOBJECT("excel.application")
>>	WITH oExcel
>>		.Workbooks.OPEN(lcXLSFile)
>>		WITH .ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.RANGE(lcRange)
>>			FOR ix = 1 TO .ROWS.COUNT
>>
>>*--Here is where I check to see if the ix,5 is empty or not.  If I pass
>>*--three empty rows in sequence then I exit the loop because I am probably
>>*--at the end of the spreadsheet.
>>*--I would like to specify the correct range above in the line:
>>*--WITH .ActiveWorkbook.ActiveSheet.RANGE(lcRange) <== ? correct range
>>
>>*--More Stuff
>>