CODEWITHSUNDEEP
ms-accessdatabase-design
BlairH
BlairH

Reputation: 102

When should a memo field be used as opposed to a text field in MS Access

At what point should one consider using the memo field type as opposed to the text field type in a MS Access database? I realize the primary consideration is the length of the field, as text is limited to 255 chars, and the memo field really can't be used in a query criteria, but are there other considerations? The text field reserves the space for every record, but the memo field only uses space for the text entered?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1799

Answers (1)

HansUp
HansUp

Reputation: 97101

You mentioned text length as the primary consideration. For me, that is more like the only consideration. If the field has to hold no more than 255 characters, it will be text instead of memo type.

The only exception I can remember was bumping up against the per-record 4,000 character limit. See Access 2010 specifications:

Number of characters in a record (excluding Memo and OLE Object fields) when the UnicodeCompression property of the fields is set to Yes

4,000

Since memo fields do not count against that limit, I made some fields memo simply to keep the remainder of the record's character count within the limit.

But that was a one-time situation.

If you want to store Access' "rich text", you would want a memo field. (Thanks, Gord.)

Off the top of my head, I can't think of any other reasons to choose memo when text would suffice.

Upvotes: 3

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