The query retrieves too many records.

• If you have more than one table or query in the query, connect them with a join line if they aren't already connected. For more information, click .

If tables or queries are already joined, check the join properties of each join line to see what type of join is in effect. Join properties determine whether one table or query contributes all of its records or only those records that match records in the other table.

• Add criteria to limit the records that the query retrieves. Only records that meet the criteria you define are retrieved. For more information about specifying criteria, click .
  • If you already specified criteria, you may want to specify additional criteria either for the same field using the And operator or for other fields. Also, verify that existing criteria is entered correctly. Check for misspellings, unnecessary spaces, or extra characters. Verify that you set the criteria for the appropriate field and that it's the criteria you want the records to meet. If you're using alternative criteria in the Or row in the query design grid or in criteria expressions that use the Or operator, you may want to remove it. For examples of specifying multiple criteria, click .
    
    
  • Check the data you're trying to find. If the data contains extra spaces or other special characters, the criteria must account for this. You can use wildcard characters in the criteria if you aren't sure of or don't want to specify the exact field values. If you're already using wildcard characters and not getting the records you want, you may be using the wildcard characters on the wrong data type. For more information on wildcard characters, click .
    
    
  • In a select, append, or make-table query, if you're using Top Values on the toolbar in query Design view (or setting the TopValues property in the query's property sheet) to return a specified number of the highest or lowest values in a field, the query might return more records than the number you specified. This is because all records that match the last record are also returned. Therefore, a query would return all three of the following records even if you requested to see the employees with the top two sales totals because the query doesn't distinguish between the two 50,000 sales totals.

    EmployeeID	Sales
    1	60,000
    2	50,000
    3	50,000

    
    

    If you don't want duplicate values to be returned, set the UniqueValues property in the query property sheet to Yes.

  For more information, click