How to hide the combo box drop-down arrow on a form in Access

Original KB number:   325233

Note

Requires knowledge of the user interface on single-user computers.This article applies to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb and .accdb) and to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).

This article demonstrates a method that you can use to hide the drop-down arrow on a combo box until the combo box is selected.

Steps to hide the drop-down arrow on a combo box

To hide the drop-down arrow on a combo box when the combo box is not selected, follow these steps:

  1. Start Access.
  2. On the Help menu, point to Sample Databases, and then click Northwind Sample Access Database.
  3. Open the Orders form in Design view.
  4. Add a rectangle control to the form. Size and move the rectangle control so that it completely covers the drop-down arrow on the EmployeeID combo box.
  5. Set the BackColor property of the rectangle to match the BackColor property of the section.
  6. Set the BackStyle property to Normal.
  7. Set the BorderStyle to Transparent.
  8. View the form in Form view.

Notice that you can see the drop-down arrow on the EmployeeID combo box only when the combo box is selected.

References

For more information about BackColor, BackStyle, or BorderStyle properties, click Microsoft Access Help on the Helpmenu, type BackColor, BackStyle, BorderStyle, or Windows color scheme in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.