Text Format as Phone

[jfirestone]

I have a silly little problem I need help with.

I have a text field in my report that is actually 10 digits (the field is formatted as text - cannot be changed as it is linked to a database in another program)
1234567890

I need it to look like a phone number
123-456-7890

I use this as my format for the field
@@@-@@@-@@@@

I get this as my result
1234567890 - -



Anyone?

 

[jfirestone]

Don't use a format, use this as the Input Mask:

!(999) 000-0000;;_

It is the standard US phone number mask and does NOT store the formatting characters in the text field. Or modify it to be exactly as you requested.

When I do that, my data returns like this
1234567890

It does not show correctly on the report. Even if these are letter, shouldn't I be able to display them any way I want?

Could it be that I cannot modify the information that is directly linked (as opposed to imported) from this other program? I currently have to export the info that contains all of my invoice information (money, etc) from the original database, run it through excel to convert it all (dates & money) and then import it into Access so that Access can use it. I cannot edit the Linked database in anyway through Access, so I cannot change the field type or format in the table. I have tried linking the invoice database directly to Access, but then Access does not seem to be able to compute anything (through a query) that I want it to.

 

[jfirestone]

If you didn't change the Input Mask in the table, where did you change it???


Add the Input Mask to the report control.

I changed the input mask in the report, I can't change ANY of the settings in the actual table because it is linked.