I am using MP2002 trial and have imported three excel data sets in three formats - shaded areas, shaded circles and pushpins. I can see the shaded circles and pushpins on top of the shaded areas okay and I have the balloon tab available in both pushpins and shaded circles, but neither one displays any balloons or info, although there are three data choices available in each of the ballon selections.
Secondly, is there any way to put text on map besides Text Box? I do not want the shading or the fill and cannot seem to turn both off at the same time.

This is from the help file, not sure if you tried this yet.

Display fields in balloons

For data that has been imported or linked, you can choose to display the field data in the balloon of the record.

In the Legend and Overview pane, select the data set.

From the Data menu, click Data Set Properties.

Click the Balloon tab, and then select the fields you want to display in the balloon for records in the data set.

To display the column heading of each field, click the box next to Display selected field names in balloons.

Click OK.

John,
Thanks for the feedback.
I did what you suggest and nothing displays, not even a balloon. I have tried it with data that uses shaded circles and data that uses pushpins. I have checked each of the three data choices showing on the balloon tab, both individually and in several combinations. The icons show, but there is no data info showing at all. I am stumped.
Kim

You did right click a pushpin and select "Show Information" or "Show Name" right?

If you can send me your map (saved as *.ptm) I will take a look at it for you.

John

I am not positive, but I think balloons are not possible if you:
1) Link instead of import the data (maybe I'm wrong and it's just not editable--sorry no time to check myself)
2) You show the data in a form that doesn't have a 1-1 correspondence to the imported records--for example you aggregate the data using the "combine value by" option or use the "show data by every geography" option. In these cases I think balloons are not available because they can only show the actual contents of an imported record. (I think.)