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.

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?

--

Ken Snell
<MS ACCESS MVP>
http://www.accessmvp.com/KDSnell/


"dhstein" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:2C8A630E-BED9-47E1-BAEB-(E-Mail Removed)...
>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,

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.

"Ken Snell MVP" wrote:

> 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?
>
> --
>
> Ken Snell
> <MS ACCESS MVP>
> http://www.accessmvp.com/KDSnell/
>
>
> "dhstein" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:2C8A630E-BED9-47E1-BAEB-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >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.
> >
> >
>
>
>