Access Attachments vs. Linking in 2007 and 2010

[savageanne]

I have a new client who has "attachment" fields in use for storing images. I don't like attachment fields because in versions past the issue of database bloat was significant when embedding files, and also because attachments are multi-value fields which I avoid due to the limitations they put on my ability to work with the data in queries.

Trying to validate that I'm still correct about this in later versions of access and not just
relying on old information and bias. I found this article that applies to 2003:

office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/use-images-in-your-access-forms-reports-and-controls-HA001147204.aspx


It has a very nice summary of the bloat problem:

However, this method can rapidly inflate the size of your database and cause it to run slowly. This is especially true if you store GIF and JPEG files because OLE creates an additional bitmap file that contains display information for each of your image files. OLE does that by design. It uses the bitmap images if something goes wrong with your original files. Those additional files can be larger than your original image and thus bloat your database. Keep in mind that Access databases have a two-gigabyte size limit. If you have a large number of images, you can reach that limit quickly.

Does anyone know if this is still valid for 2007 or 2010? Can you point me to any actual documentation? I haven't been able to find any.

 

[fx3]

stick to linking --- attaching will make your database grow larger/unstable

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http://acsdb.com

 

[Dave Rowland]

I had a user who created a DB with attachment fields, and she reached the 2 GB limit. So I rebuilt her DB by adding a continuous subform to hold links to the files she needed. Each row has a command button that opens a file picker, then stores the selected file as a clickable hyperlink.
I shared the code that makes this happen in this (MS Access VBA) thread under the title: "getting a file name from a dialog file picker".