Change custom field from Text to Date without losing data

Change custom field from Text to Date without losing data

Hi all

Just wondering if this is possible? We imported 12000+ rows of data from Excel, and to get it to import I made what should ideally be a Date field a Text field. Is it possible to change it to Date? As far as I can tell I would have to create a new custom Date field, but of course the data from the previous Text fields wouldn't move over.

Is there any way to move the data in bulk from the unwanted Text field into the hypothetical new Date field?

My gut says no, but I thought I better check first. Maybe there's some trick one of you can teach me.

Thanks
Lee