Export Query to Excel loses Text Values from Lookup Fields

[amallon]

Hi,

I have two tables Members, and Branches.



In the members table there are 3 fields Branch1, Branch2 and Branch3 which lookup the branch name from the branches table. When I run my query in access all is good, I see the branch Names in text. When I try to export this query to Excel I see the values in the 3 branch fields are now converted to the number of the branch in the branch table. How do I export this data to excel and keep the text values?

[Rawb]

This sounds like you might have tied the Branch1, Branch2, and Branch3 Columns in your Member Table directly to the Branches Table using a Field Lookup.

Field Lookups should never be used because they can hide the actual information stored in your database and cause confusion when Querying data (like now).

A better solution would be to create a Saved Query that links the two Tables together with an INNER JOIN. That way you'll be able to see the actual data stored in the Members Table as well the "human readable" result from your Saved Query.

More about the evils of Field Lookups here: http://access.mvps.org/access/lookupfields.htm