Converting a table from text to number in a query

[motoguy]

Is there a way to modify a field in a table from text to number? I am working with an imported (from excel)table that has fields that are text that do not work in subsequent queries. I would like to modify the table as part of a macro that does some data scrubbing. Till now I have been doing it manually under table design.
TIA,
Motoguy

 

[mp9]

One way is to run a query with the following syntax - this example changes a text field PhoneCode in a table tblCountry to a long integer type:

ALTER TABLE tblCountry
ALTER COLUMN PhoneCode LONG;

 

[motoguy]

You lost me. I wrote an SQL statement using the above but I get a message "Syntax error in ALTER TABLE statement"
Thnanks for your help...