Data entry of date as numbers only with no spaces or punctuation, then format as yyyy-mm-dd

[Oblio]

Hi,



I am using MS Access 2016, 64 bit.
My form f_Courses is based on a table that holds a date/time field named Start_Date

We would like to enter dates without punctuation or spaces, however, using the Format area in the property section, I believe, and set the Format as yyyy-mm-dd.

So far I have tried placing the custom input mask 00000000 at the form level, table level, both, and it will allow me to enter in all of the digits as shown by the placeholder and I have recounted them to ensure I have done it right, but I get an error that the value entered is not valid for that field. To be clear, February 1, 2017, I am entering as 20170201, and want it to format as 2017-02-01 (yyyy-mm-dd).

Can anyone point out what I am doing wrong? Or, how this should be accomplished? I know we can use the date picker, however, some of our data entry people like to enter it as just the numbers...

Thank you very much for taking the time to review my question !

Hope you are having a great day!

[aytee111]

February 1, 2017 can be entered as 1/2 or 1.2 - far less characters to type and less chance of error. Can you not teach your users this?

Otherwise you will need to make it a text field and change it to a date after they have entered it - open to errors, naturally.

[ranman256]

Mask 00000 means nothing for dates. They are numeric anyway.
dates can be set to any format but are still dates. It seems that this should work.

[John_G]

Try setting the input mask to 0000/00/00 and the Format to yyyy-mm-dd.

The textbox will switch to the display format when you tab out of it.

[Oblio]

This works exactly as I have asked for !!!! Thank you SO MUCH !!!!!!!
It was driving me crazy, so thank you for helping me out