ACC: Cannot Import YYMMDD Dates in Fixed-Width Text Files

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 7.0, 97

SYMPTOMS

Novice: 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 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.

NOTE: In the following example, an underscore(_) is used as a line-continuation character. Remove the underscore from the end of the line when re-creating this example.

   Query: ReformatDate
   ------------------------------------------------------------
   Field Name: NewDate
   Update to: Mid([OldDate],3,2) & "/" & Right([OldDate],2) & _
                  "/" & Left([OldDate],2)

   Mid([Olddate],4,2)

MORE INFORMATION

In Microsoft Access 7.0 and 97, when importing a fixed-width text file with a Date field formatted as YYMMDD, Microsoft Access generates an Import Error 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. In Microsoft Access 2.0 or earlier, the file will not be imported.