The Limitations of Microsoft Access 2003

Access 2003 is Microsoft's database application for desktops. This application can handle quite a bit of data but you should know its limitations before you begin to use it for your important data storage needs.

General Limitations

Access stores the database in a single file with an .mdb extension. This file has a maximum size of 2 gigabytes. A single database can have a maximum of 32,768 objects in it. An object's name must be less than 65 characters.

Users

If you protect your database with a password, the password's length is restricted to a maximum of 14 characters. Usernames or user groups cannot be longer than 20 characters. Access 2003 supports only 255 concurrent users. This seems like a lot but if you decide to use Access for your Web applications, you could run into issues if your website becomes popular.

Tables

Access 2003 table names are restricted to 64 characters or less. You can only have a maximum of 255 fields per table. A table can contain a maximum of 2 gigabytes worth of data.

Fields

Field names in Access 2003 are restricted to 64 characters or less. Text type fields are restricted to 255 characters while memo fields are limited to 65,535 characters if entered through the user interface. Memo fields can contain up to 1 gigabyte of storage if you enter the data programmatically.

References

• Microsoft Office: Access Specifications