Unable to change an SSIS Excel Destination Column Data Type

Question

I have an SSIS package that is importing data from SQL Server and placing it into an Excel destination file. When going into the Advanced Editor of the ADO Source component, I have a field Description that has an External Data Type of Unicode String, length 4000, and an Output Data Type of Unicode Text Stream (This is to ensure a String length > 255 can be imported into Excel). Now, when I go into the Advanced Editor of the Excel Destination component the Data Type is stuck as Unicode String, length 4000. It allows me to change it, but reverts back immediately after I click save. Running the package results in a failure since I have data in the Description field with a length > 255. I have searched countless threads regarding this issue such as this but haven't come to a solution. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

This might be very simple: after you make any change related to the Source component, I find I have to double-click the green arrow -- showing that metadata does more than just show it -- it updates that metadata, too, based on the source component. Only after that will the Destination component be able to "see" the changes to the Source component.

But if that isn't enough: when making these kind of changes, before I could get them to take effect, I've often had to (1) delete the destination component, (2) delete the destination connection object in SSIS, and (3) delete/rename/move the actual Excel spreadsheet, and then generate a new one by clicking the button (in the Destination component), that generates a new destination file from the metadata.

Answer 2

I've had this issue with the Union All component before, and they only way I've managed to fix it without deleting and re-creating the component was to open/edit it, set the incriminating fields to "ignore" on the inputs, press OK and then go back in and set the inputs back to the original fields and press OK.

This seemed to do the trick. Maybe a similar approach for other components may work.