Importing Text Files Into Access

[Ron Abbott]

The standard import functions in Access are not useful in my situation, and I am looking for a solution. The issue is that the sequence of fields in the text files I want to import keep changing - the package provider seems to randomly add a field in the middle of the tab-delimited file, and I want to avoid the need to manually import each file, changing field types as I go through up to 200 fields. The files have header lines with field names, some of which are not compatible with Access. I also need to specify that all fields are to be imported as text, regardless whether they contain numbers or a date. My application relies on the field names, rather than the order of the fields, so would usually ignore new data fields if they are added to the text files. The standard import specifications do not work when the provider inserts new fields into the files.
One possibility is to find a way to import them directly into SQL tables, but I need it automated rather than via a wizard.

 

[Abraham Andres Luna]

If you create a job in SQL Server then it should fire automatically at the time you tell it to. Or you could just launch the job yourself when you want it to run.