Ms Access Data Types is one of the basic knowledge for the beginner in most programming software and MS Access when you creating table with Table Design, you may notice the Data Type field. Data Type is how you determine the value of the field, whether it is text, date, or number.
What is AutoNumber data type in access?
What is a field property?
The list of the Data Type can be seen in this table:
| Data Type | Description | Limitation |
| Short Text (2013+ ver.) | alphanumeric values. | 255 characters |
| Text (2007/2010 ver.) | alphanumeric values. | 255 characters |
| Long Text (2013+ ver.) | Large amount alphanumeric values. | 1 GB, displayed 64000 characters |
| Memo (2007/2010 ver.) | Large amount alphanumeric values. | |
| Number | Numeric values. It is a separate data type for currency. Due to the limitation size, it is consists of: Byte, Integer, Long Integer, Single, and Double. | 1, 2, 4, 8, or 16 bytes |
| Date/Time | Contains the Date (Day, Month, Year) and Time (hour, minute, second) value. | 8 bytes |
| Currency | Monetary values. | 8 bytes |
| AutoNumber | The unique value generated by Access for each new record. | 4 bytes |
| Yes/No | Only contains Yes or No Value | 1 byte |
| OLE Object | Pictures, graphs, or other ActiveX objects from another Windows-based application. | 2 GB |
| Hyperlink | Text or combinations of text and numbers stored as text and used as a hyperlink address. | 8192 link |
| Attachment | Attached images, spreadsheet files, documents, and other types of supported files to the records in your database. | 2 GB |
| Calculated Field | Results of a calculation which refer to other fields in the same table. You need Expression Builder to create the calculation. | Depends on the data type of Result Type |
| Lookup | Displays either a list of values that is retrieved from a table or query. For more information, read LookUp Wizard Tutorial. | Depends on the data type of lookup field |
How do you change the datatype in access?
The Data Type not only contains how the data should be, but restrict the data entry to the field. For example, if you tried to input a letter into a numeric field it will automatically show the validation warning.
The Data Type on the upper list are for the field value in the table. Some of them can be used in VBA Code.