ACC2000: Cannot Import YYMMDD Dates in Fixed-Width Text Files (209716)
The information in this article applies to:
This article was previously published under Q209716 SYMPTOMSNovice: Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.
Microsoft Access will not import fixed-width text files if there is a Date
field in the text file that is formatted as YYMMDD.
CAUSE
Microsoft Access does not recognize the YYMMDD Date format in text files.
RESOLUTION
One workaround is to format the date as MMDDYY.
Another workaround is to import the YYMMDD field as a six-character Text
field. Next, create a new field in the table called, for example, NewDate,
with a data type of Date/Time. Then run an update query to derive the
NewDate field from the OldDate field as follows.
Query: ReformatDate
------------------------------------------------------------
Field Name: NewDate
Update to: Mid([OldDate],3,2) & "/" & Right([OldDate],2) &_
"/" & Left([OldDate],2)
If the Text field that contains the date has embedded slashes (/), such as
1/5/94, then the starting value in the Mid() function must be 4 rather than 3. In the example above, you would change the Mid() function to look as follows:
Mid([Olddate],4,2)
MORE INFORMATION
When you import a fixed-width text file with a Date field that is formatted as YYMMDD, Microsoft Access generates an Import Errors log table, but does not import the data for the Date field. If you try to import the text file as delimited, the data is imported, but Microsoft Access changes the format from Date to Number or Text, depending upon the date delimiter.
Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 6/29/2004 |
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Keywords: | kb3rdparty kbprb KB209716 |
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