Exporting to dBaseIV - error "Field will not fit in record"

[rebecca]

Whoever decided to remove the ability to save as a .dbf from Excel is not in
my good books.....I have imported an excel table into access. When I try to
export to dBase IV format I get the error "Field will not fit in record".
There is no indication which field is causing the problem. All fields are
text and have a limit of 250 characters. One field contains email addresses
so I deleted it from a test copy to see if it was getting hung up on the "@"
symbols but no luck.


This never happened to me when I saved as a dbf in excel....any suggestions
on what to try, what settings to check, or where I can download a free
version of Excel 2003 (lol)?

 

[Tom Wickerath]

Hi Rebecca,

I would keep doing what you started to do, on a *copy* of the database.
Delete one field at a time, trying the export each time, until you are able
to successfully export the data. Then pay attention to whatever field you
identify as the last field deleted. Does the field name include any special
characters or reserved words?

Special characters that you must avoid when you work with Access databases
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=826763

Problem names and reserved words in Access
http://allenbrowne.com/AppIssueBadWord.html

Is there a possibility that the record is too wide for the .dbf format? JET
databases have a limit of 2000 characters in a record, excluding memo and OLE
Object fields. I don't know what the limit is for .dbf files. Access MVP
Allen Browne has a free "Database Issue Checker" utility available, which you
can download and use to test your database for these types of issues,
including special characters & reserved words in field names, record too
wide, etc.

Database Issue Checker Utility
http://allenbrowne.com/AppIssueChecker.html

One more thought....have you defined any of those evil table lookup fields?
Once you identify the field in question, see if there is a lookup defined on
this field.


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
__________________________________________

 

[dakehend]

Hi Rebecca,

I would keep doing what you started to do, on a *copy* of the database.
Delete one field at a time, trying the export each time, until you are able
to successfully export the data. Then pay attention to whatever field you
identify as the last field deleted. Does the field name include any special
characters or reserved words?

Special characters that you must avoid when you work with Access databases
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=826763

Problem names and reserved words in Access
http://allenbrowne.com/AppIssueBadWord.html

Is there a possibility that the record is too wide for the .dbf format? JET
databases have a limit of 2000 characters in a record, excluding memo and OLE
Object fields. I don't know what the limit is for .dbf files. Access MVP
Allen Browne has a free "Database Issue Checker" utility available, which you
can download and use to test your database for these types of issues,
including special characters & reserved words in field names, record too
wide, etc.

Database Issue Checker Utility
http://allenbrowne.com/AppIssueChecker.html

One more thought....have you defined any of those evil table lookup fields?
Once you identify the field in question, see if there is a lookup defined on
this field.


Tom Wickerath
Microsoft Access MVP
http://www.accessmvp.com/TWickerath/
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/expert_contributors.html
__________________________________________

This is almost certainly an Office issue. I can export to dbf from ArcGIS no problem, but the exact same data set/schema will not export to dbf. from Access. The problem Access has doesn't seem to be the amount of data in the file. Access sets a maximum (paltry) allowable file size that could potentially be contained by a dbf . If your raw schema can hold more that that, it's no-go. If you make a test Access file with 25 Text fields size 255, and no data, it will not export. Delete fields one-by one, testing the export, and around field number 20 you will have success. I have 24 fields, all Short Text (255), Date, or number (double), no memo fields, with 922 records.
Hope this helps someone! Dake