Troubleshooting Problems with Microsoft Access

Troubleshooting an Access database is fairly simple. There's several steps you should always take, and it doesn't hurt to take them before the problems arise!

I've already told you about compacting and repairing regularly. But what if you get errors when you open your database or form or other object?

Begin immediately by creating a new, blank database. Import the objects from your "bad" database into the new one. Generally, this fixes errors where the cause is unknown or you didn't have errors before.

You don't have to import all the objects in at once. You can pull some in, see if you get errors, and then pull some more in.

Thanks to Bill Benson for this extra tip:

You will also want to check all the references used in the old database, if possible, and make sure they're checked in the new database. To do this, open the Visual Basic Editor by hitting Alt+F11 or Tools Macro Visual Basic Editor.

From the Tools menu, choose References. Check any appropriate references there.