autonumber data type field is skipping numbers

[Remi]

Not sure why this happened all of a sudden, but my autonumbering field is
skipping numbers. Normally the numbers are generated in integers of one. But
the field skipped from record number 6449 to 6900.

 

[Jerry Whittle]

It can happen. The only thing that an autonumber does is create a new, unique
number if it is also the Primary Key field. It is not guaranteed to be
sequential and often is not. In fact it is very easy to 'burn' an autonumber
by opening up a new record, but not saving it. Just opening up a form in add
mode, for example, burns an autonumber and creates a gap in the numbering.

If you MUST have sequential numbers, you need to do a DMax of that field and
insert it while saving the record in a form. Even this can be a problem if
multiple users are inserting records at the same time.

 

[John W. Vinson]

Not sure why this happened all of a sudden, but my autonumbering field is
skipping numbers. Normally the numbers are generated in integers of one. But
the field skipped from record number 6449 to 6900.

That's normal behavior. I'm guessing that you ran an Append query to add data
to the table; that will often leave a large gap like this.

An Autonumber has one purpose, and one purpose ONLY: to provide a meaningless
unique key. They're not guaranteed to be sequential, or free of gaps; they can
even become random (if you Replicate the database, say), giving you 224014225
followed by -312255618 followed by 824512436. Therefore Autonumbers should be
kept "under the hood", concealed from user view, so users won't be tempted to
assign them a meaning which they will not support.