hope this helps its straight from access help.
you could calculate the hours in one column, minutes in the next then add them togther. It might need a query on a query?
Mick
Extract part of existing text values using a calculated field
1 In query Design view, create a query. Add the tables whose records you want to use.
2 To find values in part of a field, use the Left, Right, or Mid function in an expression in an empty cell in the Field row in the query design grid.
The syntax for these functions is:
Left(stringexpr,n)
Right(stringexpr,n)
Mid(stringexpr,start,n)
The stringexpr argument can be either a field name (enclosed in brackets) or a text expression; n is the number of characters you want to extract; start is the position of the first character you want to extract.
The following table shows examples of these functions.
If the value in
Part ID is
This expression
Returns
BA-7893-R12 Left([PartID],2) BA
BA-7893-R12 Right([PartID],3) R12
BA-7893-R12 Mid([PartID],4,4) 7893
3 Add any other fields you want to include in the query to the query design grid.