Microsoft Access Tips for Serious Users

Provided by Chas Dillon, November 2003.  Last updated: April 2010.


Renaming fields and tracing dependencies

If you rename a field in a table, you must also change that name in each query, report, macro, and module that refers to the field. How do you find all instances?

Access 2000 and later provide Name AutoCorrect options: File (Office Button) | Options | Current Database, or in older versions: Tools | Options | General. However, the built-in tool is buggy, incomplete, and is a performance nightmare. Access 2003 provides dependency information directly, but only if you are willing to use the Track name AutoCorrect info.

Chas Dillon has prepared a utility for Access 2000 and later to find and/or alter the name in queries, forms, and reports. It also includes code to document the schema of the database, as a text file and/or as an Access report.

The utility consists of an Access 2000 database containing the code, and a text file explaining its purpose and usage.

You will need to be familiar with VBA to use this utility.

Download the utility


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