automating field conversion

[dtighe]

I have a pre-designed table that contains a memo field which I need to
convert to a text field for use in analysis. I'd like to automate the
process rather than opening the table and performing the conversion each time
- any suggestions on how to quickly accomplish this?

 

[KARL DEWEY]

You can open the table in design view, click on the field name, change the
DataType to Text, set the Field Size.

WARNING --- a memo field can contain a couple of meg of data but when
you do this change the maximum a text field can have is 255 charcters so you
will lose forever and data beyond that number.

You can create a second field and update it with left 255 characters from
the memo field. Then you would always need to run an update query to refresh
the data.

 

[dtighe]

Thanks Karl - I really need to keep the automation as simple as possible in
order to design reports for my clients around this table, so the update query
may be my best solution. Because this db is shared with several States the
memo field was used just for the purpose you described in your warning, but
for the small portion of data that we will be using (VT) a memo field is a
bit of an overkill. Nothing we enter there will EVER go past the 255
character limit of a text field, so I feel fairly safe converting this field
over...