Change field type

[amerifax]

I have a table with 260,000 records. I need to change a field type from character to date. When I try to change a field type from text to date I get the following error:

Microsoft Office Access can't change the data type.
There isn't enough disk space or memory.

What causes this error and what can I do to fix it?

Bob

 

[boblarson]

Add a new field for the date and use an update query to update that field to the value in the other field. Then delete the old field.

 

[amerifax]

OK will give that a try.

Does the fact that the file has 92 fields already have anything to do with why it won't work?

Just a thought?

Bob

 

[boblarson]

No it is likely that it has to do with it needing to validate all of the records for the change. If you use an update query it will put in the ones that will work and may give you an error message about any others that it can't update. But if you encapsulate it in CDate([FieldNameHere]) in the update part you should get most of them as long as the data is valid.