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Record and Field Size Problems
I created a database and related form for a survey. The survey has a number
of "open-ended" questions where people enter free-text responses. I originally put all survey questions, including all the free-text, in one table. When we tested it, I found that Access limits the record size and that by having so many of these fields, all of which I created as Text data types, the records will exceed the allowed size. So, I read in the Access specs that Memo fields don't count toward record size, so I changed all these text fields to Memo fields. This time, I couldn't even save the table, because I got an error saying there were too many *fields* in the table, even though I didn't change the number of fields, and had well under the supposed limit of 255 fields. Anyone have any suggestions other than breaking the questions into multiple tables? I was running into a lot more complexity in terms of the relationships, queries, form, etc. if I try to break the tables up, so if there's a way to keep the single table, I'd rather do that. Thanks in advance for any help! |
#2
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First, Compact the database (ToolsDatabase UtilitiesCompact & Repair)
When you "change" a field datatype, you are actually creating a newfield, copying "old" data into it and deleting the old field. HOWEVER, the old field still exists behind the scenes and counts against the 255 field limit until you do a compact. This may not solve your problem, but it's the first thing to do. -- George Nicholson Remove 'Junk' from return address. "Wendy" wrote in message ... I created a database and related form for a survey. The survey has a number of "open-ended" questions where people enter free-text responses. I originally put all survey questions, including all the free-text, in one table. When we tested it, I found that Access limits the record size and that by having so many of these fields, all of which I created as Text data types, the records will exceed the allowed size. So, I read in the Access specs that Memo fields don't count toward record size, so I changed all these text fields to Memo fields. This time, I couldn't even save the table, because I got an error saying there were too many *fields* in the table, even though I didn't change the number of fields, and had well under the supposed limit of 255 fields. Anyone have any suggestions other than breaking the questions into multiple tables? I was running into a lot more complexity in terms of the relationships, queries, form, etc. if I try to break the tables up, so if there's a way to keep the single table, I'd rather do that. Thanks in advance for any help! |
#3
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Thank you, thank you, thank you! It did solve my problem.
"George Nicholson" wrote: First, Compact the database (ToolsDatabase UtilitiesCompact & Repair) When you "change" a field datatype, you are actually creating a newfield, copying "old" data into it and deleting the old field. HOWEVER, the old field still exists behind the scenes and counts against the 255 field limit until you do a compact. This may not solve your problem, but it's the first thing to do. -- George Nicholson Remove 'Junk' from return address. "Wendy" wrote in message ... I created a database and related form for a survey. The survey has a number of "open-ended" questions where people enter free-text responses. I originally put all survey questions, including all the free-text, in one table. When we tested it, I found that Access limits the record size and that by having so many of these fields, all of which I created as Text data types, the records will exceed the allowed size. So, I read in the Access specs that Memo fields don't count toward record size, so I changed all these text fields to Memo fields. This time, I couldn't even save the table, because I got an error saying there were too many *fields* in the table, even though I didn't change the number of fields, and had well under the supposed limit of 255 fields. Anyone have any suggestions other than breaking the questions into multiple tables? I was running into a lot more complexity in terms of the relationships, queries, form, etc. if I try to break the tables up, so if there's a way to keep the single table, I'd rather do that. Thanks in advance for any help! |
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