Changing field definition in Linked Excel Table

[dhstein]

I linked a table to an Excel file for an update query. The file has 2
columns - column 1 is the PK and column 2 is the text field that contains the
data for updating. The default value for the text field is 255 bytes. I'd
like to change that to 20 but I can't figure out how to do that. Linked
Table manager doesn't seem to help. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[Ken Snell MVP]

No, you cannot change the field definition for a linked table (spreadsheet
in this case). But I don't see why it's necessary to change the field
definition? I am not aware of any problem that would be caused by Text (255)
as the field if you just want to use 20 characters?

 

[dhstein]

Ken,

Thanks for the reply. This question came more from curiosity than
anything else. In addition, there was another situation where the definition
was text and I needed it numeric and I couldn't figure out how to correct
that - that time it was critical since the update query didn't work. I ended
up deleting the link and recreating it. So I was just trying to understand
if I was missing something. So it sounds like those fields can't be changed.