ACC2000: Column Alias Names Are Missing After You Make Changes to an Update Query

This article was previously published under Q251312

Moderate: Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

This article applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

Symptoms

You notice that an update query that previously contained one or more column alias names now has none.

This can happen only if all the following conditions are true:

�	It is an update query.
�	The query contains two or more tables that have relationships.
�	You make a change in Design view of the query.

Currently there is no resolution or workaround for this issue.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

1.	Create a new Access database.
2.	Create a new table named Table1 with the following specifications: Table: Table1 ----------------- Field Name: IDNUM Data Type: Number Table Properties: Table1 ------------------------ PrimaryKey: IDNUM
3.	Save and close the Table1 table. For this demonstration, you do not need to enter any data in the Table1 table.
4.	Create a second table named Table2 with the following specifications: Table: Table2 --------------------------- Field Name: IDNUM Data Type: Number Indexed: Yes (No Duplicates) Field Name: FirstName Data Type: Text Field Name: LastName Data Type: Text Table Properties: Table2 ------------------------ PrimaryKey: IDNUM
5.	Save and close the Table2 table. You do not need to enter any data in Table2.
6.	On the Insert menu, click Query.
7.	In the New Query dialog box, click Design View, and then click OK.
8.	Click Close in the Show Table dialog box without adding any tables.
9.	On the View menu, click SQL View.
10.	Type or paste the following Select statement in SQL view: UPDATE Table1 INNER JOIN Table2 ON Table1.idnum = Table2.idnum SET Table2.firstname = "smith";
11.	On the View menu, click Design View.
12.	Save the query as Query1, and then close the query.
13.	Reopen the Query1 query in Design view, and then add the alias Fname to the FirstName field. It should look as follows: Fname: FirstName
14.	Save and close the Query1 query.
15.	Reopen the Query1 query. Note that the alias Fname has disappeared.

For additional information about problems with alias names, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

202859 ACC2000: Aliased Field Name in Query Displays Wrong Name

Keywords: KB251312, kbnofix, kbbug

Article Info