Jeff Boyce said:
Drew
On a side note (see Cheryl's and John's response re: # of rows), each row
has, I believe, a limit of 2000 characters. So while it might be
(theoretically) possible to have 100's of millions of (very small) rows, you
might create a table structure with so many characters in a single row that
you couldn't store a single row!
I don't think this is true.
I created a small table with eight fields of 255 characters each.
Then I filled each cell with 255 ones, replacing the last three with
"end"
If there was a 2000 character limit, then the last field of the row
would not have the word "end" in it, but it did!
Therefore, the 2000 character limit is not correct, at least not in
the current version of Access.
Unlike Excel, Access no longer has any restrictions other than your
disk space. But since you can use linked tables accessing other disks
on your network (even on other computers), even this limit is not a
hindrance. There is a 255 character limit on your text fields, but
you can then use the memo fields for over that amount. In that case,
you do lose the ability to sort the field in datasheet view, but you
can create a text field and populate it with the first few characters
of the memo field using an update query (Update mytable set
mytable.textfield = Left(mytable.memofield,255). This would allow you
to do the sorting.
BTW: I am currently using Access to store the entire state of Kentucky
voter registration database - over 2.8 million records. I am having
no problems in regards to accessing any of the records, but I am
careful regarding what fields are indexed and I avoid things in my
queries such as "LIKE" statements.
If you need someone experienced in Access in Louisville to help you,
let me know (I'm in the Louisville white pages). (I am currently a
part-time college teacher and could use the extra dough.)
Larry J. West, MCSD, MOS, FLMI, ACS
Microsoft Certified Solution Developer
Microsoft Office Specialist - Access 97 Expert
Louisville, KY
