Access 2007 Error 3163

In Microsoft Office Access 2007, you may get an error message with the number 3163. The message usually says, "The field is too small to accept the amount of data you attempted to add. Try inserting or pasting less data. (Error 3163)."

Symptoms

To reproduce the error in Access, create a query that includes a "Memo" field and set the "UniqueValues" property to "Yes." When you run the query you will get the error message and your "memo" field will be truncated to 255 characters.

Cause

When a query executes in Access and contains two memo fields, Access will treat the memo fields as text fields. Text fields have a 255-character limit, and you will see Error 3163 if the memo fields have more than 255 characters.

Workaround

A work-around requires removal of the memo field from the original query and the creation of a second query based on both the original query and table. The new query will include all the fields from the original query, plus the memo field from the table. Execute the second query, which will run the original query. The data returned in the memo field will be based on the data returned by the first query.

References

• Microsoft: Error 3163
• Microsoft: Error Message When You Run a Query in Access