# Maximum Number of Fields in Access



## lkincosmos (Mar 24, 2000)

I will be working with an extremely large database and am wondering if the maximum number of fields,in MS Access (255),is absolute. I may also have several tens of thousands of records. Can the program be tweaked to allow for more fields? Is it RAM dependent?


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

IMHO:

I strongly suggest that you never create a table with that many fields. Instead, think about how you are laying your data out. Access is a relational database where specific data should be kept in individual tables.

For instance, a payroll database should contain several tables, including: personal employee information (empID#, SSN, Name, Address, etc.), payroll info (empID#, PayLevel, amount of pay or range of pay), gross pay by period (empID#, date paid, gross amount, taxes withheld, net amount), etc., and they would all be related by the empID# field.

By doing this, you should have a much more manageable amount of data in multiple tables.

You can email me a sample of your data if you want. Just make sure there's column headings and about 100 records would be great.

I've emailed you a document about "normalization," a term used to describe the way to set up tables in a relational database. Hope it helps!

[This message has been edited for tactfulness by Dreamboat (edited 03-29-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Dreamboat (edited 03-29-2000).]


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## Anne Troy (Feb 14, 1999)

Hey...I'm only replying to put the topic at the top so the poster knows I edited my last reply. Thought it would automatically go to the top. Oh, well.


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