How to convert a text field to a date/time field in Access 2010?

Question

I am importing an excel file into Access 2010 and the date field(CALLDATE) comes in as text(YYYYMMDD). I would like to use an update query to update a new field "dateofcall" but using a date/time format. I tried to use:

UPDATE tbl_Import SET tbl_Import.dateofcall = CDate([tbl_Import].[CALLDATE]);

I thought it was going to be that simple but it shows up blank with a date format. I also tried to use DateSerriel() but still was getting errors. Any suggestions?

Answer 1

You can use left, right and mid string functions to construct a date from the various parts of the string.

For example:

DateSerial(Left(MyTextDate,4),Mid(MyTextDate,5,2),Right(MytextDate,2))

You can use the above in an Update query to update a date type coulmn 9field) to a the date from the text column.

Answer 2

My date came in as text looking like this:"2013-03-23 00:00:00.0"

I take the left 10 characters only, "2013-03-23", this makes it so Access can recognize it is a date field and then I just switch around the format.

Format(Left([WEEKEND],10),"m/d/yyyy")