Append Mailing Info to records in a table??

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mimi
  • Start date Start date
M

Mimi

I have a CLIENT table that contains client's info like
address, phone number, ID number, etc (primary Key is
ID). Some of the clients on this table are missing
Address information. I am tryint to append an xls file
to this table in order to update the client's info with
the mailing address info.
Can someone please provide some help on how I might go
about this...am a novice Access user.
THANKS!
Mimi
 
I have a CLIENT table that contains client's info like
address, phone number, ID number, etc (primary Key is
ID). Some of the clients on this table are missing
Address information. I am tryint to append an xls file
to this table in order to update the client's info with
the mailing address info.
Can someone please provide some help on how I might go
about this...am a novice Access user.
THANKS!
Mimi
Click to expand...

An Append query *adds new records* to the table - you don't want an
Append query in this case, but rather an Update query to update
existing records.

Does your spreadsheet contain an accurate ClientID on the row with the
address, or otherwise contain information that would uniquely (and
reliably!) identify the client?

If so, you can use File... Get External Data... Link to link to the
spreadsheet; create an Update query by joining your table to the
linked spreadsheet by ID, and on the Update To line put

=[linkedtablename].[fieldname]

under each field that you're trying to update. Run the query with the
! icon.
 
Thanks - the spreadsheet doesn't contain a ClientID, just
name, address, etc. - since this is the case, do you
think I can do what you suggested using FirstName and
LastName?
-----Original Message-----
I have a CLIENT table that contains client's info like
address, phone number, ID number, etc (primary Key is
ID). Some of the clients on this table are missing
Address information. I am tryint to append an xls file
to this table in order to update the client's info with
the mailing address info.
Can someone please provide some help on how I might go
about this...am a novice Access user.
THANKS!
Mimi
Click to expand...

An Append query *adds new records* to the table - you don't want an
Append query in this case, but rather an Update query to update
existing records.

Does your spreadsheet contain an accurate ClientID on the row with the
address, or otherwise contain information that would uniquely (and
reliably!) identify the client?

If so, you can use File... Get External Data... Link to link to the
spreadsheet; create an Update query by joining your table to the
linked spreadsheet by ID, and on the Update To line put

=[linkedtablename].[fieldname]

under each field that you're trying to update. Run the query with the
! icon.


.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Thanks - the spreadsheet doesn't contain a ClientID, just
name, address, etc. - since this is the case, do you
think I can do what you suggested using FirstName and
LastName?
Click to expand...

Well... maybe, maybe not. Names are NOT unique. If you have three
people in your table all named Jim Smith, none of whom have addresses,
and your spreadsheet has a Jim Smith (or worse, a James Smith) with an
address, which one do you update?

If - and as I say, it's unlikely - you can create a unique Index on
the combination of FirstName, LastName, then you can join on those two
fields and update. If you can't uniquely identify the record, then
you'll need more information before you can do it (in ANY way,
manually or automatically!)
 
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