Edit Multiple Fields at Once?

[LaurenP]

Is it possible to edit the properties of multiple fields in the Table Design
View at once? For example, I have nine fields that are variants of one
another and all need to have the same Value List. Must I go to each one and
copy/paste, or is there a simpler way to edit them all at the same time? Or
what about changing their number type or default value all at once?

Note: Access 2003 user

 

[Jerry Whittle]

The short answer: No.

The long answer: Are the fields something with similar data but a slightly
different field name? If so you just found another reason not to create
tables like that.

I’m assuming that your data looks something like this:

Employee Test1 Test2 Test3 Test4 Test5
Tim Complete Complete N/A N/A Incomplete
Jack InComplete Complete N/A N/A Incomplete

That’s known as committing spreadsheet. Instead of going across, you want to
go down like so:

Employee Tests Status
Tim Test1 Complete
Tim Test2 Complete
Tim Test3 N/A
Jack Test1 Incomplete

 

[LaurenP]

Thank you for your response!

The short answer: No.

The long answer: Are the fields something with similar data but a slightly
different field name? If so you just found another reason not to create
tables like that.

I’m assuming that your data looks something like this:

Employee Test1 Test2 Test3 Test4 Test5
Tim Complete Complete N/A N/A Incomplete
Jack InComplete Complete N/A N/A Incomplete

That’s known as committing spreadsheet. Instead of going across, you want to
go down like so:

Employee Tests Status
Tim Test1 Complete
Tim Test2 Complete
Tim Test3 N/A
Jack Test1 Incomplete

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

Is it possible to edit the properties of multiple fields in the Table
Design
View at once? For example, I have nine fields that are variants of one
another and all need to have the same Value List. Must I go to each one
and
copy/paste, or is there a simpler way to edit them all at the same time?
Or
what about changing their number type or default value all at once?

You can hold the Shift key down while clicking several controls to select
them all, then open the property sheet. The property sheet you see will
represent the common properties of all the selected controls. Properties
that are not the same for all the controls will be blank. Any property
change you make on that common sheet will be applied to all the controls.

 

[LaurenP]

I figured as much. Thank you!

I'm sorry, I didn't read closely enough. I thought you were talking about
fiels (controls) on forms, not fields in the table design. My answer above
is totally wrong.

Fortunately, Jerry posted before me with the correct answer.

It wouldn't be too hard to write a procedure to set a property for mutliple
fields. However, it probably isn't worth doing this unless you have
multiple occasions where it would be handy.

--
Dirk Goldgar, MS Access MVP
Access tips: www.datagnostics.com/tips.html

(please reply to the newsgroup)

 

[De Jager]

Is it possible to edit the properties of multiple fields in the Table
Design
View at once? For example, I have nine fields that are variants of one
another and all need to have the same Value List. Must I go to each one
and
copy/paste, or is there a simpler way to edit them all at the same time?
Or
what about changing their number type or default value all at once?

Note: Access 2003 user