Output individual records as PDF files

Anonymous
2019-10-29T19:10:56+00:00

My organization is using MS Word form to create a client questionnaire. Each Word doc form is saved as PDF file and stored in the Client's folder. I created a form in Access to capture and parse the questions but I cannot find a way to create and output a PDF file from Access. This requires me to repeat the entry process manually into the Word document.  My IT department won't let me roll this out to other employees because of A) the double entry issue and B) they fear other users apparently will have to learn and use VBA to output individual records.

My question is: Can Access output individual records as a printable PDF format and cannot it be done without VBA?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Access | For home | Windows

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Anonymous
2019-12-04T04:17:58+00:00

I can answer the one question...  You can set two Primary Keys by highlighting both rows and then pressing Primary Key.

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Anonymous
2019-11-21T22:31:42+00:00

David,

Me <--no degree in Computer Science.

I did have a great teacher who was a co-worker.  I learned a lot for her but more from the great help I received in newsgroups as there were no forums at the time.  If I were a beginner now I would start with Crystal's book which is free...

http://allenbrowne.com/casu-22.html

You can also go here for free Data models...

http://www.databaseanswers.org/data_models/

https://www.access-diva.com/tips.html#bmDataModels

Access is simple enough for non-technical Users but once you start getting *serious* you do need to do some reading.  And those hundreds of hours are over time with the help of the many Forums where free help is given including helping you create a data model.  So if you ever decide it's worth the time, we are here to help.

I also noticed you said you created a Form and tried to add fields from another table which sounded like it was unrelated to the record source of the Form.  Well, this can only be done when table is part of the record source.  You can create a query which can include multiple tables from which you need fields and build your form though most would just use a subform in a typical one-to-many scenario.

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  1. Anonymous
    2019-12-06T05:12:11+00:00

    David,

    That error means that there are Client ID's in NE06 Family (FK) table that are not in the Client Basic table.  So you are missing some Client ID's OR you have zeros in the Client ID field where it should be blank which in effect is an orphaned record.

    You also should stay away from Look-up Fields in tables.  You will get unexpected results in queries and reports.  When you want to see the Name instead of the ID you can use a query and put both tables in it.

    As a side note, you'll be wanting to remove all spaces and wildcard characters from your field names.  Makes it so you have to bracket everything and believe me you'll get tired of that pretty quick.  It's a field name, you know it's a question so no need to put the question mark.  I'd remove those underscores as well, just an extra key to type., use CamelCase.  That said, all in all your tables look pretty good.

    To reply to your statement about this database you are building being to complicated.  Nope, no where near to complicated and definitely not more than Access can handle.  I have databases handling lab testing, as well as, manufacturing with more tables then I care to admit.  I would need a plot printer to print the relationships on one piece of paper.

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  2. Anonymous
    2019-12-06T02:20:23+00:00

    Scott,

    I understand that the client names won't show in each table. What I meant to say earlier is that the data in the tables don't link to a client. I created a relational, one to many, contact database with a query from scratch and it worked. I think Access' Relationships tool cannot handle the type of database I am trying to build. It's probably too complex. I tried every combination I could think in terms of creating the relationships. This is one of the error messages I get:

    Here is an image of my tables. Again, I tried several combinations but there does not seem to be a way to relate the tables. Moreover, there seems to be too many fields that Access can handle in terms of building a form and subforms. I can't fit all the tables into a form / subforms. 

    I created another version where I pull the clients name via a look up wizard. I can look up and select a name for each table from the Client Basic table. This works for me because it seems to be my only option. Will be possible to create a query and a report with my technique?

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  3. ScottGem 68,840 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2019-12-06T01:04:40+00:00

    but the problem is that the other tables to do not display the name of the client the services were assigned to. 

    The other problem is the form. The main form and subforms won't accommodate the 90 records I need to capture in my database. I get the following error message: I suspect it is because the data limit imposed by Access. 

    OK, First that is the way it is supposed to work. As we have said before Relational databases reduce redundancy. There is no reason to include any client information other than the ClientID in your child tables. If you want to do a report on the services, then you create a query that joins the two tables on ClientID and include the identifying columns from the Clients table and the needed columns from the Services table.

    Second, As I've said before, relational database tables should be tall and thin, not wide. I'm suspecting that your services table has fields for each type of service. Wrong design. Your services table should look like this:

    ClientServices

    ClientServiceID (PK Autonumber)

    ClientID (FK)

    ServiceID (FK)

    ServiceDate

    ServiceFee

    etc.

    Like I said tall and thin, so each service performed is a separate record.

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