Use an input mask to simplify data entry in Access

by Mary Ann Richardson | Sep 06, 2005 2:57:00 PM

Tags: Telecom & Utilities, Microsoft Office, Mary Ann Richardson, data entry, mask, phone, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Office Suite Access Tips Newsletter

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Takeaway: Did you know that you can configure Microsoft Access to enter hyphens and parentheses for you? See how easy this is with just a few tweaks to the field's Input Mask property.

It's much easier to enter phone numbers if you don't have to type the hyphens and parentheses. Did you know that you can configure Microsoft Access to enter those special characters for you? You just need to tweak the field's Input Mask property.

To create an input mask for a phone number field, follow these steps:

Open the table in Design View, and select the Phone field.
In the Field Properties window, click the Input Mask text box.
Click the builder button to the right of the text box.
Click Next to select the suggested phone number mask.
Click Next to select the suggested placeholder, and click Finish.

Now, to enter a phone number, just move to the field, and type the numbers. The special characters will appear automatically.

If the suggested mask isn't appropriate, you can add your own mask to the list provided. For example, suppose you want Access to format phone numbers as 206-555-0000.

In the first Input Mask Wizard window, click the Edit List button. Delete the parentheses, and add a hyphen to the existing input mask. Retype the sample data, and click Close. Go through the rest of the wizard to enter the new mask into the field's properties.

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