You can use the PictureType property to specify whether Microsoft Access stores an object's picture as a linked or an embedded object.
Setting
The PictureType property uses the following settings.
| Setting | Visual Basic | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Embedded | 0 | (Default) The picture is embedded in the object and becomes part of the database file. |
| Linked | 1 | The picture is linked to the object. Microsoft Access stores a pointer to the location of the picture on the disk. |
You can set the PictureType property by using the object's property sheet, a macro, or Visual Basic.
This property can be set only in form Design view or report Design view.
For controls, you can set the default for this property by using the default control style or the DefaultControl method in Visual Basic.
Remarks
When this property is set to Embedded, the size of the database increases by the size of the picture file and, with some .wmf files, the size may increase as much as twice the size of the picture file. When this property is set to Linked, there is no increase in the size of the database because Microsoft Access only saves a pointer to the picture's location on the disk.
Note If a linked file is moved to another location on the disk, you must re-establish the link by using the object's Picture property.
For embedded pictures, the object's PictureData property stores the individual bits that make up a picture's image. For linked pictures, this property stores the path to the picture's file.
You can modify a linked picture by using a separate application and changes to the picture will appear the next time the object containing that picture is displayed in the database.