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  1. #1
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    Access 2013 truncating Long Text fields in Reports

    Hello,


    I've spent hours looking for an answer to this, and would appreciate someone's help.
    I have a Long Text field in an Access 2013 database that accommodates answers to a questionnaire. I've learned that these fields can hold 64K characters, so it should not be cut off at 255 like older versions of Access. I have set this field to "CanGrow". In my Report, however, it cuts the answer off around 250 characters (249, 253, etc). From all I've read, this shouldn't be happening.
    Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

  2. #2
    ItsMe's Avatar
    ItsMe is offline Sometimes Helpful
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    How are you using the report? Have you tried comparing Report View to an Export procedure? I believe there is an issue with exporting Memo and Long Text Fields.

  3. #3
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    I just tried to export it as a .pdf file... not only was it still truncated at the same spot for each questionnaire answer but the overall formatting became a bit scrambled.

  4. #4
    ItsMe's Avatar
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    Yeah, I think the issue is in the export. It may be OK to Print Preview. I believe it will also work in Report View. I would try the different options to define where the issue is. Maybe linking a Word Doc via Merge Fields is an option. From there you could print to file.

  5. #5
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    The field is truncated in the Report View and the Print Preview, but I'm intrigued by your suggestion.

  6. #6
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    It doesn't allow me to do a Word merge... it's greyed out. Ack!

  7. #7
    ItsMe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TundraMonkey View Post
    The field is truncated in the Report View and the Print Preview, but I'm intrigued by your suggestion.
    I did some testing in Access 2013. I did not have any issue in Print Preview or in Report View. However, I did not have any issue exporting, either.
    Code:
    DoCmd.OutputTo acOutputReport, "rptMemo", acFormatPDF, "C:\Test\PDF_Files\TestMemo.pdf"
    Access 2013 does not have the Memo Type, it has Long Text. I have heard of issues exporting memo before though. Here is one reference.
    http://allenbrowne.com/ser-63.html

  8. #8
    ItsMe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TundraMonkey View Post
    It doesn't allow me to do a Word merge... it's greyed out. Ack!
    Are you going straight to the data source? Are you using formatting anywhere? RTF?

    You may have to export to a text file. Boyd showed me one option for exporting. Maybe define the data type in VBA as memo. Anyway, there is an example for exporting data to a text file and then merging word with the text file.

    Scroll down to Super Easy Word Merge.
    http://www.kallal.ca/msaccess/msaccess.html
    some notes
    http://www.kallal.ca/wordmerge/

  9. #9
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    I've tried generating the report with this field from the data source (table) as well as from a query... and, given some of your sources, a query of that query. Each time it truncates the field at the same place. I don't have any formatting specified for this field. I'm not understanding what the Word Merge is and can't get it to work, but I'll keep trying. Others will be using this database and it sounds like a step they may not know to take.

  10. #10
    ItsMe's Avatar
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    Microsoft Word has this thing called Merge Fields. The feature referred to as Mail Merge uses Merge Fields. The application, Microsoft Word, has the capability of connecting to databases. It can connect to Access and other data sources, like a text document. If you can successfully export to a text document, you might try connecting a Word Doc to the text document.

    However, there is no guarantee that a Merge Field is capable of values with more than 255 characters.

    Some code that splits the Memo into 255 characters might be an option. But, putting it back together does not sound like a lot of fun.

    The only other thing I can think of, besides using Access 2013, might be to automate Adobe Acrobat. If you have a full version of Acrobat installed, you might be able to manipulate a PDF file.

  11. #11
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    I am using Access 2013. I've checked several times, as it sounds like it's treating my Long Text field like a Memo. If it worked for you I think I just need to start from scratch. Thank you very much for your time!

  12. #12
    TundraMonkey is offline Novice
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    Yikes... When I was wrestling with the report I had gone in to the query and original table to make sure the entire text answer was there, and it was. However, I just went into the query and it has truncated records there now. The data in the original Answers table is intact.

  13. #13
    ItsMe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TundraMonkey View Post
    Yikes... When I was wrestling with the report I had gone in to the query and original table to make sure the entire text answer was there, and it was. However, I just went into the query and it has truncated records there now. The data in the original Answers table is intact.
    OK, that is good news, I suppose. Perhaps there is a text format in the query because of a function or something.

  14. #14
    hheeaatthheerr is offline Novice
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    Had this issue today and figured out the problem. Already had Can Grow field set to "Yes". On the Property Sheet, under the Format field, there was an "@" in the field. Deleted that out and now it shows my full text on the report.

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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