Error: Record too large

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eddie
  • Start date Start date
E

Eddie

We are trying to import a .txt file into an Access 2002
database. We already have the fixed length layout and it
has about 1,900 characters. We're getting the following
message: Record too large. Does anyone knows what is the
maximum record length capacity of Access?
 
Hi Eddie,

According to the documentation (see "Access specifications" in Help)
it's 2000 characters excluding data in memo and OLE fields. But there
are complications relating to the number and types of fields in the
record, so it's not surprising to get a "record too large" message with
somewhat fewer than 2000.

One possible cause, however, is incorrect linebreaks in the text file.
Recent versions of Access require Windows-style CR+LF - Chr(13) &
Chr(10) - and have problems when presented with files that just use CR
or just use LF (files from mainframes, Macs and Unix may do this). There
are lots of utilities around for adjusting the linebreaks if this is the
problem.

Otherwise, possible work-rounds include:

-import the wider fields in the textfile to Memo fields rather than Text
fields.

-import the file into two tables, each containing a subset of the fields
including the primary key. Then set up a one-to-one relationship between
them.

-use text-file tools to partially normalise the data into one or more
narrower tables before importing it.



If the fixed length file has a large number of fields
 
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