Flaws in Microsoft Access

Provided by Allen Browne, January 2004. Updated April 2010.

Failures caused by Name AutoCorrect

This feature was introduced in Access 2000. It tries to help users who rename a table field, so that queries, forms and reports automatically recognise the new field name. Microsoft has addressed some of the problems with this feature, but is it still buggy, incomplete, and a performance problem.

The workaround is to turn the feature off:

• In Access 2010, click File | Options | Current Database, and scroll down to Name AutoCorrect Options.
• In Access 2007, click the Office Button | Access Options | Current Database, and scroll down to Name AutoCorrect Options. 
• In Access 2000 - 2003, the Name AutoCorrect boxes are under Tools | Options | General.

You must remember to do this every time you create a database, preferably before creating any other objects.

(Note: this is not the same as AutoCorrect for spelling, which has none of these problems.)

Known issues with Name AutoCorrect

A scan of the knowledgebase reveals why we urge you to turn this feature off immediately.

It causes problems with queries:

• Name AutoCorrect Does Not Repair Query Field/Table Names
• ACC2000: Column Properties in Query May Disappear After You Run DAO Code or a Wizard
• ACC2000: Properties Are Missing from Queries After You Access TableDef Object with ADOX Catalog Object
• ACC2002: Name AutoCorrect Does Not Fix Changed Field Names in Union Query

It causes problems with forms:

• ACC2000: Name AutoCorrect May Not Repair Form
• ACC2002: Name AutoCorrect Does Not Repair Certain Form or Report Property Settings

It causes problems with reports:

• ACC2000: Name AutoCorrect Does Not Repair Report
• ACC2000: Lost Printer Settings When Name AutoCorrect Is Enabled

It does not work at all with macros and code.

It fails with converted databases, imported objects, and messes up design-time licences:

• ACC2000: Name AutoCorrect May Not Work in a Database Converted from an Earlier Version of Access
• ACC2000: Name AutoCorrect Does Not Repair Imported Objects
• ActiveX Control That Is Contained in an Access Form Does Not Appear When the Design-Time License Is Not Available

It is a serious performance problem:

• ACC2000: Slow Performance Opening Object with Name AutoCorrect Enabled
• Slow Performance When User Opens an Object with Name AutoCorrect Enabled

It causes Access to crash, therefore corrupting databases:

• ACC2000: Access Quits Unexpectedly When You Run a Query
• ACC2002: Access Quits Unexpectedly When You Run a Query

Turning off Name AutoCorrect means that the Access 2003 promise of tracing dependencies is unfulfilled, but that doesn't always work either according to this article: Incorrect Object Dependencies Information Appears for Database Objects in a Read-Only Database.

If you have existing databases where this feature is on, consider creating a new (blank) database, turning it off, and then importing all objects from your existing one (File | Get External | Import).