Special Edition Using Access 97, Second Edition

Setting Default Values of Fields

Access 1.x assigned your fields' default values, such as 0 for Number and Currency fields and No for Yes/No fields. Access 2.0 did not assign default values to Number and Yes/No fields automatically. Access 95 and Access 97 cover the middle ground by assigning Number and Currency fields a default value of 0; all other field types are empty by default. (Notice that the tentative append record in (Figure 4.28) has zeroes entered in all the Number and Currency fields.) In all versions of Access, Text, Memo, and Date fields are empty by default. You can save data-entry time by establishing your own default values for fields; in some cases, Access 97's default values for Number and Currency fields may be inappropriate, ...