MS-Access / Getting Started

Database Limitations

As you design your database, you should keep in mind the following limitations:

  • A table can have up to 255 fields.
  • A table can have up to 32 indexes.

    Note:Keep in mind that defining relationships with Referential Integrity turned on creates one additional index in each participating table that counts toward the 32-index limit per table.

  • A multiple-field index can have up to 10 fields. The sum of the lengths of the fields cannot exceed 255 bytes.
  • A row in a table, excluding memo fields and ActiveX objects, can be no longer than approximately 4 kilobytes (KB).
  • A memo field can store up to 1 GB of characters, but you can't display a memo larger than 64 KB in a form or a datasheet.

    Note Clearly, if you try to store a 1-GB memo (which requires 2 GB of storage because of double-byte character set support) or a 2-GB ActiveX object in your database file, your file will be full with the data from one record.

  • An ActiveX object can be up to 2 GB in size.
  • There is no limit on the number of records in a table, but an Access 2010 database cannot be larger than 2 GB. If you have several large tables, you might need to define each one in a separate Access database and then attach it to the database that contains the forms, reports, macros, and modules for your applications.

Now that you've started to get comfortable with creating databases and tables.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Designing Client Tables
  2. Creating a New Database
  3. Creating a New Empty Database
  4. Creating Your First Simple Table by Entering Data
  5. Creating a Table Using Application Parts
  6. Creating a Table Using Data Type Parts
  7. Creating a Table in Design View
  8. Understanding Field Data Types
  9. Setting Field Properties
  10. Nulls and Zero-Length Strings
  11. Defining Simple Field Validation Rules
  12. Defining Input Masks
  13. Defining a Primary Key
  14. Defining a Table Validation Rule
  15. Understanding Other Table Properties
  16. Defining Relationships
  17. Defining Your First Relationship
  18. Creating a Relationship on Multiple Fields
  19. Adding Indexes
  20. Multiple-Field Indexes
  21. Setting Table Design Options
  22. Creating a Default Template for New Databases
  23. Printing a Table Definition
  24. Database Limitations