form to create new record or append existing

[Rookie]

I have a contacts table with firstname and lastname fields along with address
phone etc.
I have a form to enter contacts information. Can the form open matching
record as I type in the first and last name rather than creating a new record
and than just update the existing one?

 

[John W. Vinson]

I have a contacts table with firstname and lastname fields along with address
phone etc.
I have a form to enter contacts information. Can the form open matching
record as I type in the first and last name rather than creating a new record
and than just update the existing one?

This needs some care: I know Fred Brown, and his son Fred Brown, and an
unrelated Fred Brown here in little Parma. Your contacts table should - MUST!
- have a unique Primary Key personID field.

For data entry you may want to consider having a combo box (based on a query
bound to the PersonID but displaying LastName, Firstname) to *select* the
name; you could use this combo's not in list event to jump to the New Record
if it's not found.