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Carlynne

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Making New Access Database from Old One

Hi,

I have an Access database that I created for a survey in 2010 with data already entered.  My company has decided to make some changes to the 2011 survey, so I need to make those changes in the database, including tables and forms. The main changes are the addition and deletion of a few questions and changes to some of the question's response options.

My question is: what is the best most efficient way to create the new database? Should I copy all the forms and tables over to a new database or should I delete the old data in the 2010 database and then make changes?  

thanks,
carlynne
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Gustav Brock
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Carlynne

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Hi /Gustav,

Thanks for your response.

 I have done as you suggested but the IDs are not starting over from 1. How do I get the IDs to start over, rather than starting off where the last record in the old database left off? I want to start with a clean slate.

Also, when I update the responses in the tables, Access doesn't seem to update automatically in the forms. Do I have to update forms separately? What a pain! Urgh.

Thanks,

carlynne
IDs are for uniqueness only and should be meaningless and not displayed for the user as you cannot (and should not) guarantee a sequence. This is a very fundamental design of relational databases.

Yes, if you change data in table that is a source for a form, you may need to refresh/requery the form to reflect the changes.

/gustav
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You may expand the code to delete the old tables.
Warning: alway have an extra backup before trying new comments.
If after you delete the data, you do a Compact and Repair, autonumber fields will reset to 1.
GRayL,

How do I do a "compact and repair?"

carlynne
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GRayL,

Hmmm, I don't have a Tools in my menu bar. I have Home, Create, External Data, Database Tools, Add-Ins. Do I need to add a tool's tool bar?

Sorry.

carlynnne
Click on Database tools - is it there?  You must be using A2007 or A2010
Yep,I'm using 2007.

carlynne
Were you able to get to Compact & Repair?
thanks for everyone's input.
it would sure be nice to know what worked!
GRayL,

No, I couldn't get it to work.