Help importing Excel datasheet with sporadic data

[Ili]

Hi! I am having an issue when I import my Excel spreadsheet into SAS 9.1 My problem is that my datasheet contains many variables with only a few numerical entries. I know SAS reads the first 8 observations and chooses the num or char format based on the most common entry in those first 8 obs. I have tried to sort my data so that most of my data is in those first 8 obs, but I cannot do this for all variables because i just dont have enough complete or consistent data across all of my variables. Is there a way to change the import method in sas so that it will import all of these variables in NUM format and not change the empty variables to character?

[osho]

Did you try changing the column type in Excel to numeric before importing?

[Ili]

Yes, i have done both. The problem is that there just isnt enough data to in each column to keep the type at numeric.

[osho]

If that doesn't work, go to File>> Import and choose Excel.
When you choose the table to import, click on the 'options' button . make sure that "convert numeric values to characters in a mixed type column" in unchecked before importing.