Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Chapter 2: Creating Access Tables

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to handle many different types of data, until recently there was no way to accommodate complete

files as Access data without performing some transformation on the file (such as conversion to OLE

data).

New Feature
Access 2010 includes the Attachment data type, enabling you to bring entire files into your Access database
as “attachments” to a table. When you click on an attachment field, Access opens a small Attachments dialog
box (shown in Figure 2.34), enabling you to locate files to attach to the table.

FIGURE 2.34

Managing attachments in an Attachment field

The Add button in Figure 2.34 opens the familiar Windows Choose File dialog box, enabling you

to search for one or more files to attach to the field. The selected files are added to the list you see

in Figure 2.34. Notice also that the Attachments dialog box includes buttons for removing attach-

ments from the field, and for saving attachments back to the computer’s disk.

The significant thing to keep in mind about the Attachment data type is that a single attachment

field in a table can contain multiple files of different types. It’s entirely possible to store a Word docu-

ment, several audio or video clips, and a number of photographs, within a single attachment field.

Cross-Reference
In Chapter 19, you’ll see how Attachment fields are used on Access forms.

Caution
Obviously, because the attached data is incorporated into the database, the .accdb file will quickly grow if
many attachments are added. You should use the Attachment data type only when its benefits outweigh the
burden it places on an Access application.