Workflow: Access to Arcmap and Back

1. export as .xls (with no formatting option)
   
2. open w/ excel 2003 or earlier. press ctrl + A twice, do column autofit
   
3. convert all double number fields to number w/ adequate number of sig digits (6 is good for decimal degrees)
4. export as dbf
5. import dbf to arcmap
6. when creating shp via geoprocessing/etc name 6 chars/less and no special chars
7. close arcmap
8. import into access