I have a column in an Excel spreadsheet which is defined as data type 'General'.  When I import the xls to CR the column data type changes to data type 'number' if the first spreadsheet field is numeric and 'text' if it is non-numeric.  When the field is defined as one it doesn't display the other type field contents once it is imported so i get either numeric values or non-numeric values only.  I need both to report on both numeric and non-numeric data.  I tried changing the datatype to text in the excel file but it did no good.  How can I persuade CR XI or 2008 to recognize both numeric and non-numeric data?