Learn about Access reserved words and symbols
"Reserved words" are words and symbols that have a specific meaning to Microsoft
Access. If you use a reserved word or symbol to name a field in a desktop database or
web app table, Access warns you that the word is reserved and that you might
encounter errors when referring to the field.
You might also encounter errors if you use a reserved word to name a control, an
object, or a variable. The error messages you receive don't necessarily tell you that a
reserved word is the cause of the problem. As a result, it can be difficult to identify what
needs to be changed. For example, Access might display a message similar to the
following:
The wizard was unable to preview your report, possibly because a table needed
by your report is exclusively locked.
If a reserved word is already in use, you can avoid error messages by surrounding each
occurrence of the word with brackets ([ ]). However, the best solution is to change the
name to a non-reserved word.
Note It is not practical to provide a list of all reserved words, such as built-in function
names or user-defined names. If you set a reference to a type library, an object library,
or an ActiveX control, that library's reserved words are also reserved words in your
database.
In this
article
Access reserved words
Access reserved symbols
Access reserved
words
-A
ADD
ALL
Alphanumeric
Application
ALTER
AS
AND
ASC
ANY
Assistant
AUTOINCREMENT
CreateProperty
End
Avg
CreateRelation
Eqv
-B
CreateTableDef
Error
BETWEEN
CreateUser
EXISTS
BINARY
CreateWorkspace
Exit
BIT
CURRENCY
-F
BOOLEAN
CurrentUser
FALSE
BY
-D
Field, Fields
BYTE
DATABASE
FillCache
-C
DATE
FLOAT, FLOAT4,
FLOAT8
CHAR, CHARACTER
DATETIME
FOREIGN
COLUMN
DELETE
Form, Forms
CompactDatabase
DESC
FROM
CONSTRAINT
Description
Full
Container
DISALLOW
FUNCTION
Count
DISTINCT
COUNTER
DISTINCTROW
CREATE
Document
CreateDatabase
DOUBLE
CreateField
DROP
CreateGroup
-E
CreateIndex
Echo
CreateObject
Else
-G
GENERAL
GetObject
GetOption
GotoPage
GROUP
GROUP BY
GUID
-H
LastModified
Object
HAVING
LEFT
OLEOBJECT
-I
Level
OFF
Idle
Like
ON
IEEEDOUBLE,
IEEESINGLE
LOGICAL, LOGICAL1
OpenRecordset
LONG, LONGBINARY,
LONGTEXT
OPTION
If
IGNORE
-M
Imp
Macro
IN
Match
INDEX
Max, Min, Mod
Index, Indexes
MEMO
INNER
Module
INSERT
MONEY
InsertText
Move
INT, INTEGER,
INTEGER1, INTEGER2,
INTEGER4
-N
OR
ORDER
Orientation
Outer
OWNERACCESS
-P
Parameter
PARAMETERS
Partial
PERCENT
NAME
PIVOT
INTO
NewPassword
PRIMARY
IS
NO
PROCEDURE
-J
Not
Property
JOIN
Note
-Q
-K
NULL
Queries
KEY
NUMBER, NUMERIC
Query
-L
-O
Quit
SHORT
-V
-R
SINGLE
VALUE
REAL
SMALLINT
VALUES
Recalc
SOME
Var, VarP
Recordset
SQL
VARBINARY,
VARCHAR
REFERENCES
StDev, StDevP
-W
Refresh
STRING
WHERE
RefreshLink
Sum
WITH
RegisterDatabase
-T
Workspace
Relation
TABLE
-X
Repaint
TableDef, TableDefs
Xor
RepairDatabase
TableID
-Y
Report
TEXT
Year
Reports
TIME, TIMESTAMP
YES
Requery
TOP
YESNO
RIGHT
TRANSFORM
-S
TRUE
SCREEN
Type
SECTION
-U
SELECT
UNION
SET
UNIQUE
SetFocus
UPDATE
SetOption
USER
Top of Page
Access reserved
symbols
The following
symbols must not
be used as part of a
field name or as
part of an object
name:
.
&
/
-
*
?
;
"
:
'
!
$
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