Comparison of data types between a Microsoft Access database and a Microsoft Access project

The following table compares data types between a Microsoft Access database and a Microsoft Access project.

Microsoft Access data type	SQL Server data type
Yes/No	bit
Number (Byte)	tinyint
Number (Integer)	smallint
Number (Long Integer)	int
Number (Single)	real
Number (Double)	float
Currency	money smallmoney
Decimal/numeric	decimal numeric
Date/Time	datetime smalldatetime
AutoNumber (Increment)	int (with Identity property defined)
Text (n)	varchar(n) nvarchar(n)
Memo	text
OLE Object	image
Replication ID (also called globally unique identifier (GUID))	uniqueidentifier (SQL Server 7.0 only)
Hyperlink	ntext (but Hyperlink is not active)
(no equivalent)	nchar
(no equivalent)	varbinary
(no equivalent)	user-defined
(no equivalent)	smallint
(no equivalent)	timestamp
(no equivalent)	char nchar

Notes

In an Access project, the "n" prefix stands for "national" and means that the data type is unicode-enabled. In an Access database, all text columns are unicode-enabled by default.
The equivalent to an Access database AutoNumber data type in an Access project is the int data type defined with an Identity property. This data type contains system-generated sequential values that uniquely identify each row within a table (for example, employee identification numbers). When inserting values into a table with an Identity column, Access automatically generates the next field value based on the last used Identity value (set in the Identity Seed property) and the increment value (set in the Identity Increment property) that is specified when you create a column. To make this data type behave like the Autonumber data type, set the Identity Seed and Identity Increment properties to a value of 1.
Microsoft Access stores either a zero (0) or a minus one (-1) in the Access database Yes/No data type. An Access database interprets 0 as a 0, No, or False value, and interprets anything else as a –1, Yes, or True value. By contrast, SQL Server stores either a zero (0) or a plus one (+1) in the bit data type. An Access project interprets 0 as a False value, and interprets plus one (+1) as a True value.
Although the ntext data type does not store active hyperlinks, you can make a hyperlink active on a form in an Access project by binding a control to any text field and setting the IsHyperlink property to True.