Access 97 error importing comma-delim. file that Access 2.0 imports ok

[sbn]

I have a comma-delimited file, where text fields are in double quotes.<br>

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Importing directly into Access 97 doesn't work: Error message

 

[JimHorton]

I don't know if your message was truncated or not, but I couldn't see the exact error message. Anyway, It could be that the default separator character is different in 97 than in 2.0, or in 2.0 you had set up a spec that imports fine, but that spec may be much different than the defaults for 97. Anyway, I'd just go throught the Import wizard step-by-step and make sure that the separator (usually a comma) is matching you're data, the text qualifier, and any other relavent import properties.<br>
--Jim

 

[sbn]

Here's the complete question. Thanks.<br>
<br>
- I have a comma-delimited file, text fields in double quotes.<br>
<br>
- Import directly into Access 97 doesn't work: Error message "External table isn't in the expected format." (I did make sure that the field delimiter & string identifier are correct.)<br>
<br>
- Import directly into Access 2.0 does work - no error messages,data looks good.<br>
<br>
- Import directly into Excel 97 also works - no error messages, data looks good - & by saving in Excel as a workbook & importing the workbook into Access 97 I can get the data there.<br>
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- Is there a bug in Access 97 concerning delimited-file import, or is it just enough pickier than Access 2.0 & Excel that it won't accept this file, or is there another step I need to be doing, or is there a patch?<br>
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- Problem occurs on at least 2 different pc's. (I tested elsewhere because I thought there might be a problem w/the installation of Access on the first one.)

 

[JimHorton]

Sbn,<br>
If it were Access 95, I would expect this type of problem, A95 was such a horrifying disaster, expecially (at least in my experience) with import/export specs. But Access 97 has been smooth in that regard for me, but it may just be, as you suggest, that it's a little pickier--maybe one record has 20 fields instead of 21, or, more likely, a date field has a bad date. All I can suggest is going through 'the long way' and setting each fields properties in the Import Wizard, and manually setting all fields to Text, then if that works, start by changing a date field to date, one by one, etc. <br>
--Jim

 

[sbn]

Hmmm... I did go to Advanced & make sure all of the fields were trying to import as Text. The one possible clue I found today in a MS newsgroup (microsoft.public.access.externaldata) was that there seem to be quirks relating to importing currency fields.<br>
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And I do have one currency field in the file I'm trying to work with, though it, like all the other data, is inside double-quotes, which I've specified as the text qualifier.<br>
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Does this spark any further ideas, or thoughts of a work-around (I hope!)?<br>
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Thanks.