ACC: Unable to Paste Information into Property Sheet

• Microsoft Access versions 1.0, 1.1, 2.0, 7.0, 97

SYMPTOMS

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

You are unable to paste information into a property sheet by using the Paste command on the Edit menu. Instead, you keep creating a new label control on your form or report.

CAUSE

You are using menu commands that do not apply to pop-up windows.

RESOLUTION

Use equivalent keyboard actions rather than selecting commands from the Microsoft Access menu bar. In this case, use CTRL+V or SHIFT+INSERT to paste information into a pop-up window.

STATUS

This behavior is by design.

MORE INFORMATION

Property sheets are actually pop-up windows. When you use menu commands, Microsoft Access returns focus (from the pop-up window) to the parent window. When you use equivalent keyboard actions, Microsoft Access retains focus on the current edit control (in this case the property sheet). Therefore, selecting the Paste command from the Edit menu will paste a new label in the "parent" form or Report window.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. In the sample database Northwind.mdb (or NWIND.MDB in versions 1.x and 2.0), open the "Customers And Suppliers By City" query (or "Customer List" query in versions 1.x and 2.0) in Design view.

2. Select the entire SQL statement and click Copy on the Edit menu.

3. Open the Orders form in Design view. If the property sheet is not open, click Properties on the View menu.

4. Click the CustomerID combo box, and then select the entire RowSource property statement in the property sheet.

   NOTE: In versions 1.x and 2.0, there is a space in the Customer ID field.

5. Try to paste the SQL code into the RowSource property by clicking Paste on the Edit menu. Note that Microsoft Access creates a new label on the form containing the SQL statement.

6. Click Undo on the Edit menu. Close the Orders form and click No if asked to save changes.

REFERENCES