Changing Misspelled Record

[tylerg11]

I want to change misspelled records, but the misspells are in the primary key of my table. By changing the values of primary key fields, can I break table relatioships? I'm not changing field names, just field values of a primary key field.

[Robeen]

If your misspelled values have corresponding values in other tables - once you correct the spelling in your Primary key field - those records will no longer be related if the misspellings are in the related tables as well. So - yes - you will be breaking the relationships between records in different tables if they exist.

[tylerg11]

So what would be the best way of changing a misspell that is a primary key and related to other relatioships as a foreign key?

[Robeen]

When I have had this happen in the past - it has been a task for the Data Entry people.
I don't know if there is a way to automate this.
Are there like . . . thousands of these errors? And will they have to be changed across a Bunch of tables?
If not - just change them manually.

If it is a HUGE problem - then it might be worth creating a small form to scroll through each record in the field that has the misspells - and fix the spelling [again manually] . . . on the Form - and then on your Update button on this form - have code to go out to each of the related tables - look for the incorrect spelling - and update it with the changed spelling.
I hope this helps!

[alansidman]

Why would you make your primary key anything other than an autonumber? You will never have this issue if you follow that as a self directed rule. If you need some other identifier then add it as a field but for primary keys which is how Access links tables, I believe that autonumber is the best practice. I would change the design before I got to far down the road. It will save a lot of aggravation.

[tylerg11]

When I have had this happen in the past - it has been a task for the Data Entry people.
I don't know if there is a way to automate this.
Are there like . . . thousands of these errors? And will they have to be changed across a Bunch of tables?
If not - just change them manually.

If it is a HUGE problem - then it might be worth creating a small form to scroll through each record in the field that has the misspells - and fix the spelling [again manually] . . . on the Form - and then on your Update button on this form - have code to go out to each of the related tables - look for the incorrect spelling - and update it with the changed spelling.
I hope this helps!

It is just about 8 records. I want to change "Gyros Whdg" to "Gyros WHDG". But when I change these mispells in these field, since this field is part of the primary key, I don't want the spell change to disconnect relationships.