Gary Kjos
garykjos at gmail.com
Mon Dec 7 13:07:32 CST 2009
The trick I use for things like this is to insert a row above the first real data row in your Excel file and load something like a sting of XXXX's into the date field so the import processor will see that as text and not try to make it into a number. This is needed for Credit Cards and phone numbers and social security numbers and zip codes. Access Import will look at the data in the first row and use that to set the field type in the Access table. So use that to your advantage and fool it into doing what YOU want it to. Then after the import is done, go and delete that record from the result data table. Another recommendation I have is to import into a table that is only used to receive the import. Then run another query to load it into the final table you want the data to really reside in. That way you can format the fields exactly the way you want them in the real table. Good luck and welcome to the AccessD List Nathan. GK On Mon, Dec 7, 2009 at 12:40 PM, Nathan Hosburgh <nhosburg at fit.edu> wrote: > Hi everyone - I'm rather new to the list and don't have incredible experience with Access. > > I've exported data to Excel from a website. All the data looks ok when it's in Excel, but when I import it as a new table into Access there are errors. There is a date field that has various date formats: 1995, SUMMER 2002, SEPT-OCT 2005, Dec-08, etc. I'm not concerned about normalizing the data into consistent date formats... I can leave it as text. I have done this before with other tables and the data came through fine in Access. But, this time, some of the dates are coming through in Access as 5-digit numbers. > > It's really bizarre. This happened to me originally a couple months ago, then I did something to make it import correctly. Now, of course, I cannot remember what it was that I did. I have a feeling it has something to do with how I save the Excel file, but I'm not sure. > > Thanks, > > Nate > > -- > AccessD mailing list > AccessD at databaseadvisors.com > http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd > Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com > -- Gary Kjos garykjos at gmail.com