made a big mistake by adding Attachments field

[tagteam]

So I have never used the attachments field and my boss wanted it added and I didn't realize what kind of problems it would cause (like not even being able to export to excel)

My updated plan is to create a linked table that will allow me to create multiple entries for each file and use a hyperlink to point to the file on the file share.



My two questions are:
1. what is the best way to hand attachments
2. is there a way to get a list in datasheet form that will show me all the attached files so that I can then create hyperlinks from them.

Thanks for any help, still learning.

[pbaldy]

"Best" is always relative, but I handle them with a plain text field to store the path and either FollowHyperlink or ShellExecute to open them. If you use the linked table, a subform in continuous or datasheet view would display them as a list. You could also use a listbox.

[tagteam]

Ok, thanks for the confirmation, that is what I plan to do.

Do you know of a way that i can create a report or query that will list all of the file names in each attachment field. I would like to be able to do that and then use that as the basis for my hyperlinked text fields because they users have already added about 300 attachments and i dont want to make them redo them or have to redo them myself.
Thanks

[pbaldy]

You mean the existing attachments? I've never used the attachment field, but see if this helps:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/For...tachment-field

In particular Albert's query solution a few posts down.

[tagteam]

Yes, that article is perfect. With that information I will be able to figure out the rest of what I need.
thanks for your help.
Tate

[pbaldy]

Happy to help.