You can configure flat file properties in Excel and copy them into a flat file data object in the Developer tool. Flat file properties include the column name, native type, precision, and scale. You might want to do this when you need to develop or edit a flat file data object with many columns.
You must confirm that the values in each cell are valid before copying the values to a flat file data object. For example, a string type cannot have a scale value other than "0." Precision values cannot be words and type values cannot be numbers. If your information is incorrect, you will receive an error message.