Change the default data type and text size (ADP) - Access

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Change the default data type and text size (ADP)

Applies to: Microsoft Office Access 2003

Note The information in this topic applies only to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).

You can change the default data type (data type: The characteristic of a field that determines what type of data it can hold. Data types include Boolean, Integer, Long, Currency, Single, Double, Date, String, and Variant (default).) and the default size of a text field for a new column created in Database Designer or in Table Designer.

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Tables/Queries tab.
Do one or more of the following:
- To set the default data type for a column, select a Microsoft SQL server data type from the drop-down list box under Default field type.
- To set the default size for a text field (char (char data type: In an Access project, a fixed-length data type with a maximum of 8,000 ANSI characters.), nchar (nchar data type: In an Access project, a fixed-length data type with a maximum of 4,000 Unicode characters. Unicode characters use 2 bytes per character and support all international characters.), varchar (n) (varchar (n) data type: In an Access project, a variable-length data type with a maximum of 8,000 ANSI characters.), nvarchar (n) (nvarchar(n) data type: In an Access project, a variable-length data type with a maximum of 4,000 Unicode characters. Unicode characters use 2 bytes per character and support all international characters.)), enter a number in the Text text box under Default field sizes.