diff --git a/.lintr b/.lintr
index 80754030..37b9c939 100644
--- a/.lintr
+++ b/.lintr
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 linters: linters_with_defaults(
+  cyclocomp_linter(complexity_limit = 18),
   line_length_linter(120),
   object_usage_linter = NULL,
   object_name_linter = NULL,
diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 6dbba2df..3021dfdb 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -25,6 +25,8 @@
 
 * New argument in `xportr_length()` allows selection between the length from metadata, as previously done, or from the calculated maximum length per variable when `length_source` is set to “data” (#91)
 
+* `xportr_length()` assigns the maximum length value instead of 200 for a character variable when the length is missing in the metadata (#207)
+
 ## Deprecation and Breaking Changes
 
 * The `domain` argument for xportr functions will no longer be dynamically 
diff --git a/R/length.R b/R/length.R
index d87fe2b2..5a6092c6 100644
--- a/R/length.R
+++ b/R/length.R
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 #'
 #' Assigns the SAS length to a specified data frame, either from a metadata object
 #' or based on the calculated maximum data length. If a length isn't present for
-#' a variable the length value is set to 200 for character columns, and 8
+#' a variable the length value is set to maximum data length for character columns, and 8
 #' for non-character columns. This value is stored in the 'width' attribute of the column.
 #'
 #' @inheritParams xportr
@@ -118,37 +118,51 @@ xportr_length <- function(.df,
     check_multiple_var_specs(metadata, variable_name)
   }
 
+  # Get max length for missing length and when length_source == "data"
+  var_length_max <- variable_max_length(.df)
+
+  length_data <- var_length_max[[variable_length]]
+  names(length_data) <- var_length_max[[variable_name]]
+
   # Check any variables missed in metadata but present in input data ---
   miss_vars <- setdiff(names(.df), metadata[[variable_name]])
 
-  length_log(miss_vars, verbose)
-
+  miss_length <- as.character()
   if (length_source == "metadata") {
     length_metadata <- metadata[[variable_length]]
     names(length_metadata) <- metadata[[variable_name]]
 
+    # Check any variables with missing length in metadata
+    miss_length <- names(length_metadata[is.na(length_metadata)])
+
     for (i in names(.df)) {
       if (i %in% miss_vars) {
-        attr(.df[[i]], "width") <- impute_length(.df[[i]])
+        attr(.df[[i]], "width") <- length_data[[i]]
+      } else if (is.na(length_metadata[[i]])) {
+        attr(.df[[i]], "width") <- length_data[[i]]
       } else {
         attr(.df[[i]], "width") <- length_metadata[[i]]
       }
     }
   }
 
+  # Message for missing var and missing length
+  length_log(miss_vars, miss_length, verbose)
+
   # Assign length from data
   if (length_source == "data") {
-    var_length_max <- variable_max_length(.df)
-
-    length_data <- var_length_max[[variable_length]]
-    names(length_data) <- var_length_max[[variable_name]]
-
     for (i in names(.df)) {
       attr(.df[[i]], "width") <- length_data[[i]]
     }
 
-    length_msg <- left_join(var_length_max, metadata[, c(variable_name, variable_length)], by = variable_name) %>%
-      filter(length.x < length.y)
+    length_msg <- left_join(var_length_max, metadata[, c(variable_name, variable_length)], by = variable_name)
+    length_msg <- length_msg %>%
+      mutate(
+        length_df = as.numeric(length_msg[[paste0(variable_length, ".x")]]),
+        length_meta = as.numeric(length_msg[[paste0(variable_length, ".y")]])
+      ) %>%
+      filter(length_df < length_meta) %>%
+      select(variable_name, length_df, length_meta)
 
     max_length_msg(length_msg, verbose)
   }
@@ -156,13 +170,3 @@ xportr_length <- function(.df,
 
   .df
 }
-
-impute_length <- function(col) {
-  characterTypes <- getOption("xportr.character_types")
-  # first_class will collapse to character if it is the option
-  if (first_class(col) %in% "character") {
-    200
-  } else {
-    8
-  }
-}
diff --git a/R/messages.R b/R/messages.R
index e85d6875..e7d49d64 100644
--- a/R/messages.R
+++ b/R/messages.R
@@ -102,17 +102,19 @@ type_log <- function(meta_ordered, type_mismatch_ind, verbose) {
 #' Utility for Lengths
 #'
 #' @param miss_vars Variables missing from metadata
+#' @param miss_length Variables with missing length in metadata
 #' @param verbose Provides additional messaging for user
 #'
 #' @return Output to Console
 #' @noRd
-length_log <- function(miss_vars, verbose) {
+length_log <- function(miss_vars, miss_length, verbose) {
   assert_character(miss_vars)
+  assert_character(miss_length)
   assert_choice(verbose, choices = .internal_verbose_choices)
 
-  if (length(miss_vars) > 0) {
+  if (length(c(miss_vars, miss_length)) > 0) {
     cli_h2("Variable lengths missing from metadata.")
-    cli_alert_success("{ length(miss_vars) } lengths resolved")
+    cli_alert_success("{ length(c(miss_vars, miss_length)) } lengths resolved {encode_vars(c(miss_vars, miss_length))}")
 
     xportr_logger(
       glue(
diff --git a/man/xportr-package.Rd b/man/xportr-package.Rd
index 2f38a255..bcd0521d 100644
--- a/man/xportr-package.Rd
+++ b/man/xportr-package.Rd
@@ -85,7 +85,8 @@ coerce R classes to numeric XPT types. Default: c("integer", "numeric", "num", "
 }
 \item{
 xportr.numeric_types - The default character vector used to explicitly
-coerce R classes to numeric XPT types. Default: c("integer", "float", "numeric", "posixct", "posixt", "time", "date")
+coerce R classes to numeric XPT types. Default: c("integer", "float",
+"numeric", "posixct", "posixt", "time", "date")
 }
 }
 }
diff --git a/man/xportr_length.Rd b/man/xportr_length.Rd
index 93425808..c3180a71 100644
--- a/man/xportr_length.Rd
+++ b/man/xportr_length.Rd
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ Data frame with SAS default length attributes for each variable.
 \description{
 Assigns the SAS length to a specified data frame, either from a metadata object
 or based on the calculated maximum data length. If a length isn't present for
-a variable the length value is set to 200 for character columns, and 8
+a variable the length value is set to maximum data length for character columns, and 8
 for non-character columns. This value is stored in the 'width' attribute of the column.
 }
 \section{Messaging}{
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-length.R b/tests/testthat/test-length.R
index 3b294f55..12fce410 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-length.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-length.R
@@ -163,17 +163,6 @@ test_that("xportr_length: Domain not in character format", {
   )
 })
 
-test_that("xportr_length: Column length of known/unkown character types is 200/8 ", {
-  expect_equal(impute_length(123), 8)
-  expect_equal(impute_length(123L), 8)
-  expect_equal(impute_length("string"), 200)
-  expect_equal(impute_length(Sys.Date()), 8)
-  expect_equal(impute_length(Sys.time()), 8)
-
-  local_options(xportr.character_types = c("character", "date"))
-  expect_equal(impute_length(Sys.time()), 8)
-})
-
 test_that("xportr_length: error when metadata is not set", {
   adsl <- minimal_table(30)
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-messages.R b/tests/testthat/test-messages.R
index 2055914e..1da3e004 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-messages.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-messages.R
@@ -22,9 +22,9 @@ test_that("length_log: Missing lengths messages are shown", {
   # Remove empty lines in cli theme
   local_cli_theme()
 
-  length_log(c("var1", "var2", "var3"), "message") %>%
+  length_log(c("var1", "var2", "var3"), c("var4"), "message") %>%
     expect_message("Variable lengths missing from metadata.") %>%
-    expect_message("lengths resolved") %>%
+    expect_message("lengths resolved `var1`.*`var2`.*`var3`.*`var4`") %>%
     expect_message("Problem with `var1`.*`var2`.*`var3`")
 })
 
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R b/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
index b97c895b..9c9a4d08 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-metadata.R
@@ -513,12 +513,12 @@ test_that("xportr_length: Check if length gets imputed when a new variable is pa
     xportr_length(df, df_meta, domain = "df")
   )
 
-  # 200 is the imputed length for character and 8 for other data types as in impute_length()
-  expect_equal(c(x = 1, y = 200, z = 8), map_dbl(df_with_width, attr, "width"))
+  # Max length is the imputed length for character and 8 for other data types
+  expect_equal(c(x = 1, y = 1, z = 8), map_dbl(df_with_width, attr, "width"))
   expect_equal(df_with_width, structure(
     list(
       x = structure("a", width = 1),
-      y = structure("b", width = 200),
+      y = structure("b", width = 1),
       z = structure(3, width = 8)
     ),
     row.names = c(NA, -1L), `_xportr.df_arg_` = "df", class = "data.frame"