Cascading Without VBA
By Richard Rost
3 hours ago
New for 2026 - Cascading Combo Boxes Without VBA In this lesson, we will walk through creating cascading combo boxes in Microsoft Access without VBA. You will build Country, State, and City tables, add relational combo boxes to a form, and use the Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields properties to filter each child combo box based on its parent selection. We will also discuss the requirements for table/query row sources, hidden link fields, meaningful control names, and how built-in cascading controls work in continuous forms and datasheet view. MembersIn the extended cut, we will learn how to use cascading combo boxes as unbound filters for a continuous form, filtering records by country, state, and city. I will also show you how to link a list box to multiple master and child fields using a pizza ordering example with size and crust selections. Silver Members and up get access to view Extended Cut videos, when available. Gold Members can download the files from class plus get access to the Code Vault. If you're not a member, Join Today!
PrerequisitesLinksRecommended Courses
Keywords TechHelp Access, Access cascading combo boxes, Link Master Fields, Link Child Fields, dependent combo boxes, cascading list boxes, continuous forms, datasheet view, relational combo boxes, combo box row source, multi-field combo box links
More InformationTranscript Got a good one for you today, folks. New for 2026, we've got cascading combo boxes without the need for VBA.
Are you tired of writing event code every time one combo box needs to filter another one? Country, then state, then category, then product, and it's one of those things we've always had to wire up ourselves.
Well now, we don't have to. I'm going to show you how it works.
Welcome to another TechHelp video brought to you by Access Learning Zone. I'm your instructor, Richard Rost.
Access now has built-in cascading combo boxes and list boxes, and you don't have to have all the usual VBA plumbing. And this isn't just a convenience feature for beginners. It's a very nice improvement also.
For advanced users, we can now use it easily with continuous forms and datasheet view. This is where dependent combo boxes have always been a little spicy, let's call them.
We're going to take a look at what's new, how it works, and why it matters. And for everybody who keeps saying that Access is dead, well, Microsoft is still adding useful new features. Access is very much still alive and well.
So yes, Access now has built-in cascading combo boxes. Pick a category, and then a product list shows the products in that category. Pick a country, and then you see states in that country. Or provinces if you happen to be up in the Great White North. Pick a state, then you'll see cities from that state.
Traditionally, we had to build the plumbing ourselves with some VBA. We'd use an After Update event, and then run a requery on the child combo box, and then put the criteria in the child's row source. It still works. And it's absolutely still worth learning.
I've got other videos on the old method, which I'll link to in just a minute. But Access can now handle the normal cascading stuff for us with two new properties. And so yes, again, this is proof that Microsoft is still actively developing Access. They're not just fixing bugs and doing compliance work. They added form zooming earlier this year. They've got more things coming up, and now we've got this.
Now, for those of you who aren't familiar with cascading, in a cascade, the first control is the parent or the master. And it supplies the value that controls the next list box or combo box.
First, you pick United States, then you'd see the states in the United States. Or you pick Canada, you see Ontario, Quebec, and so on. And so the child list only shows places that belong to the selected parent list.
And the goal isn't just to make the form look fancy. It prevents bad choices. It makes your list much shorter. Especially if you're pulling data over a network. It helps users find the right item without scrolling through giant phone-book-sized drop-down lists. Remember phone books? Ask your parents, kids.
But the important idea is simple. The parent supplies a value, and then the child list is filtered to records that match that value.
So we've got two new properties that make this work: Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields. And if you've ever linked a subform to a main form, these should feel familiar.
Link Master Fields says, "Here's the value." And Link Child Fields says, "Okay, here's the list of stuff that I've got that matches that value."
Now, one important thing to remember is that for this to work, the dependent combo box or list box has to have a row source type of table or query. You can't do this with value lists. So these have to be proper relational combo boxes.
Also, the Link Child Field has to be present in that row source. It doesn't have to be visible in the drop-down. So you can include the Country ID as a hidden column if you don't want users seeing it, but it's got to be in there. And the master can be a control on the form, or it can just be a field in the form's record source.
Before we get started with the walkthrough, you should know what combo boxes are. I'm going to be using a combo box, but you can certainly use a list box too. They're pretty much the same thing, functionally.
And you should also know what a relational combo box is. This is not a value list combo box. This is a combo box where the data is based on a table or query. Go watch these videos first if you're not familiar with these terms. These are free videos. They're on my website. They're on my YouTube channel. Go watch those and then come on back.
All right, so here I am in my TechHelp free template. This is a free database. You can grab a copy from my website if you want to. And we'll just do this simple example, which is country, state, and city.
So we'll need three tables. Create Table Design. We've got a Country ID. That'll be an AutoNumber. And then the Country Name, Short Text. We'll save that as the CountryT primary key. Y'all.
All right, we can close that. We'll put a couple countries in it, maybe. We'll put USA and Canada.
Now, I'm going to leave this guy open like this. We're just going to slide you over here for now. Let's create another one. Create Table Design. Let's make our State table.
State ID, State Name, and it needs a Country ID. This is my foreign key, so that's a number of type Long Integer. And I'm going to click this guy and put it right there because I like to have all my keys up at the top of the table. That's just me.
All right, save it StateT. And now let's put some data in this one. Country 1, state Florida. Country 1, state New York. Country 1, state Texas.
Country 2, we've got Ontario, and country 2, we've got BC.
Now let's take this, and we'll slide it over here because we just need these for reference for now, for putting our sample data in. You'd obviously make all pretty forms and stuff where you can set this stuff up. I've got tons of other videos on that stuff.
All right, Create Table Design. Last one. This will be our City table.
City ID, AutoNumber. Then we need a State ID foreign key. That's our number of type Long Integer, and then the City Name. Save it City table primary key, and let's throw some data in it.
What do we got here? State. All right, so let's do Florida, which is state 1, and we'll do Cape Coral. We'll do Florida again. We've got Miami. We'll do another Florida, which will be Fort Myers.
Now, does the City table need to have the Country ID in it? Anybody? Bueller? Bueller? No, because the city knows what state it's from, and if you know what state it's from, then you, by proxy, know what country it's from. So you can look stuff up. If you can look it up, there's no reason to have to type it in and add it to the table. I mean, you can if you want to speed things up maybe later with really, really big databases. That's a whole different video.
So state 2 is New York. We've got Buffalo. We've got Rochester. Yes, I'm from Western New York.
State 3, we've got Houston. This is Texas, and Dallas and Corpus. I lived in Corpus Christi with my mom when I was a kid for about a year.
All right, so what's state 4? We've got, okay, so now we're into Ontario. Let's just put Toronto in there. And let's do Fort Erie, and let's do Hamilton. Spent a lot of time up there in my youth.
And then in 5, we've got British Columbia. Let's just do Vancouver. It's the only one I know in British Columbia.
All right, so our City table is done. Our State table is done. Our Country table is done.
Now we can set up some linked combo boxes. Actually, before we do that, we've got to have a place to store those values: the country, state, and city. So let's throw those in our Customer table design view.
Now, right now, I've just got them in here as text. So I'm going to get rid of City, State, and Country. All right, get rid of City. Don't do this in a real database. I'm just deleting this because it's a sample training database. You'd want to have to copy this stuff over, save your data. But for training purposes, I'm going to get rid of City, State, and Country. And we're going to replace those with Country ID, State ID, and City ID.
Save it, close it, and let's go into my Customer form.
Now you can see those fields are missing. That's okay. We're going to delete you.
All right, let's start off with the Country combo box. So, Form Design. Find this guy. We're going to drop it right there.
Look up the values in a table or query. Yep. CountryT has the list of values. Yep. Bring those both over. Next. How do you want to sort the list? Let's sort it by Country Name. Next.
All right, it's going to look like that. The key column is hidden. All right, relational combo box. That's fine. Next. We're going to store that value in the Country ID field. Next. What do you want for the label? Well, the label can be Country.
And one of my pet peeves with the combo box wizard is it doesn't let you give the combo box itself a name. I wish you could, Access team. Get on that one.
All right, one more step in the wizard. What do you want for the name? All right, Finish.
And then what I like to teach people to do is come right in here to the properties and give this combo box a good name. Go to All, come right up to the top. I don't want it called Combo31. I like to see MyCountryCombo.
All right, save that. Close it.
Now, if we close this and open it back up again, you'll see in here, there's my list of countries. And if I pick Canada, and I can go to the next one, and I can pick United States. Actually, I got those backwards.
All right, Jim Kirk should be Canada. That's his shirt. And I should be United States. There we go.
Now let's put the State combo box on here next. Design View.
All right, let's put another guy down right here, down here. All right, drop it down. Combo Box. Drop it right there.
Here comes the tricky part. Pay attention now. Get your values from a table or query. Yep.
Now, where is this combo box getting its list of values from? Well, this is to pick the state. So what's coming from the State table?
Now, what fields do you want in here? Now, normally, you just pick the fields you want to see and the ID. You want State ID and State Name. In this particular case, you want to also bring over Country ID because Country is going to make the link to this one.
So bring over all three of those fields. The primary key, the foreign key, and whatever you want the visible field to be that shows up in the box.
You got that. All right, Next. How do you want to sort it? Name. Next.
All right, now the key column is hidden. We know that guy is hidden. We're going to also hide this one. You don't want to see this guy. Otherwise, this will be what you see in the box. So we're going to also go like this. Go, whoo, just like that.
Make sure you don't leave a little bit of it visible. People do that and then they wonder why it's not working. They go right there. They think it's hidden. That's not hidden. You've got to make it all the way. I just come all the way this way.
So we've got two hidden columns there. Country ID, or, yeah, Country ID and State ID are both hidden.
All right, Next. Now we're going to store this value in the State ID field in the Customer table. All right, Next. Label State, and then Finish.
And again, give it a good name. Always give your combo boxes a good name. You'll see why in just a second.
Actually, I'm not going to give this guy a good name just to show you what happens. Watch what happens.
Now, if I save this, close it, open it, drop this down. Oh, there's all of them again. And if I change this, it doesn't matter.
Now we've got to link these together. That's what those two fields are for, those properties, excuse me. Open up the properties for the combo box, right here. Go to Data, and here's Link Child Fields and Link Master Fields.
Now, just like with subforms, this represents the same field. What one field links these two things together? What links the Country ID to the State? Well, that's the Country ID. That links both of those things together. USA and Florida have the same Country ID, just like with a subform. Your Order form and your Order Details subform both share an Order ID.
So this needs to be that shared field. So Link Child Fields and Link Master Fields should both represent the country.
Now, the child field, that's the State. So drop that down. That's going to be the Country ID. That's the field in the box. That's why I had you bring it into the combo box. We need it there.
Link Master Fields, that's the parent. Now, I had to make this a little bit bigger so you can see it. Here's the list. Now, you can see why it's important to give your combo boxes good names. Combo39. That's the State field. That's why I said we're not going to change the name. So I can show you what happens.
I don't want Combo39 in this list. Oh, CountryCombo, I know what that is. That's why I gave it a good name, see? Access team, get on that.
So what represents that shared field? Well, that's CountryCombo. Country ID, Country ID, same thing.
Now, this guy is linked to the country. And if we save it, close it, close it, open it, let's put USA in here and drop this guy down. Oh, look at that. See? You can pick New York.
And if I go to this one, I can go here and say, "Oh, look at that, Ontario." See, those are linked together.
And if you change this one, now you've got to pick one of those. If you go back to USA, that's gone. You've got to pick it again.
All right, let's do another one. Let's do the city now. I want you to pause the video and try it yourself before you continue watching it with me.
You should be able to do it yourself. And while you're thinking about how to do it yourself, also, I want you to click on that Like button. Give me a like. Come on. You've got to like. Come on. And then, of course, subscribe if you're not subscribed already. It helps me out, and it lets me keep doing what I do best and what I love doing, which is making these videos for you guys.
All right, go try it yourself. Pause the video. Come on back.
Did you get it? All right, here we go. Hope, wait, first, first, first. Give this guy a good name. I almost forgot. Combo39, come here. This is going to be the StateCombo.
And yes, I like to separate my combo boxes and call them StateCombo instead of StateID. I've got a whole separate video on this. A lot of reasons why, mostly in VBA, I want to know I'm dealing with a combo box instead of just working with a field. But that's a whole different video.
Drop it down, pick you, click. Table or query, yep. City table, yep. Bring over all three, yep. Sort by City, Next. Hide the State ID, Next. Store that value in City, Next. Label, City.
Not done yet now. Maybe nice, Access team, if you guys added it to the wizard. If you see other combo boxes, yeah, now we're really getting at high speed.
First, give it a good name. CityCombo. Data. What's the one field that represents the thing you're trying to link it to? That's the State. So the child field is going to be State. The master field is the StateCombo. I know it's off the screen down there, sorry. That's right down there. I could zoom out, or I could just pan down a little bit. There you go, StateCombo.
Save it, close it, open it. And look at it. Aha. Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Eh? Not nice. See, they're all linked.
Now, watch this. You're going to like this.
All right, Design View this guy. We're just going to slide you over here for a minute. So there's my combo box. It's all right, Customer List. This is a continuous form. And yeah, State's broken because we deleted it. Fine.
Design View. Now, I'm going to get rid of this stuff just for the purpose of this class. And let's get rid of this name too, so we've got some room in here.
Watch this. I'm going to select these guys. Copy, paste. We can chop off the labels. Country, State, City. Oh, went to market back down there. All right, stay in your lane, bro.
Save it, close it, open it. Look at that. They work with continuous ones.
Do you know how much work this was before to get continuous forms to work with cascading combo boxes? Oh, it was such a pain. I've got a whole video. I did an extended cut. It's a, yeah, the hide fields. Because remember, one combo box, if you change a combo box property, it changes all of that combo box.
This is now baked into Access. So it's so much better. So much better. Thank you, Access team, for putting this together. I love this.
So for single-record forms, like we just saw, the feature is mostly convenience: far less code, fewer moving parts, fewer chances to forget that requery command.
But for experienced developers, the really big deal is like I just showed you, the continuous forms. The filtering is now record-aware. A continuous form with multiple rows and stuff, like I just showed you, has the same control definition for every row. And that's super nice.
We used to have to make all kinds of weird changes to it to get it to hide and requery that row. It was a nightmare. The new built-in link solves that problem. Access can evaluate the relationship for each displayed record.
And the same is also helpful with Datasheet View. If you do a lot of work with Datasheet View, I don't, but I know a lot of you guys do. In fact, Kevin, yep, on my website said I need to start doing more with Datasheet View. And I agree, I'm going to. It's definitely got some benefits, and there's a lot of stuff that I haven't ever covered that I can go through. That's a different video.
So what did we use to do? Well, if you're curious, I'll give you a link in a moment to my old video on this. But usually the parent combo box had an After Update event. When the user picked a new country, we told Access to requery the State combo box. And then the State combo box's row source query had criteria that looked back at the Country control on the form.
Or, in some cases, you could use VBA and replace the row source directly. That's the way I used to prefer doing it. And it's still a perfectly legitimate technique. Don't throw away older cascading combo boxes just because you want to hook them up with the new way. They work, and leave them.
And my older video still teaches very useful Access Legos, like they call them, the Access Legos. After Update events, requery, row sources, query criteria, some VBA, all very important skills that apply to a lot of other situations.
Microsoft has simply just given us an easier built-in solution for this particular job. Think of it like using a power drill instead of a screwdriver. You still know what the screwdriver is for. And you can still use it to open a can of paint. But if the drill does exactly what you need, then you don't have to go hunting around in the drawer for the screwdriver. And there's no trophy for doing extra work with the screwdriver when you can just go, "Zzz," all right? Well, except you strip the screws. That's a whole different talk.
Now, if your cascade doesn't work, don't panic. Check the basics. Make sure your parent is supplying the same kind of value that the child link field expects. In our example, CountryCombo stores the numeric Country ID, and the States combo box needs to also have Country ID in it. Those values have to match. Remember, it's the same field.
The field can be hidden in the combo box, but it's got to be available to Access. Also, make sure the child's control row source is Table/Query. This will not work with a value list.
And again, remember, give your combo boxes good names. CountryCombo and StateCombo are a whole lot easier to work with than Combo35 and Combo42 and whatever. Future you is also the person who has to fix this at 4:55 PM on a Friday when it's not working. So use good names, Alex.
Now, one important note before you go hunting for these properties. Microsoft announced this feature on September 24th, 2026, and it's rolling out gradually to Access 365 Current Channel installations, version 2609.
Gradual rollout means exactly what it sounds like. Two people can both be on version 2609. One may see Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields, and the other doesn't have them yet.
In fact, on my machines, my desktop PC that I normally work on all day long, I usually keep that one in the Current Channel, and it didn't have it last night. And I got it this morning. I was getting ready to record this video on my other testing machine I have in the corner that I've got on the beta version, and that had cascading combo boxes for a while now.
So be patient. And also, this is another reason why I like the Microsoft 365 subscription, the monthly subscription or the annual. Because if you want all these new fancy features, you've got to have the 365 subscription. They don't come for the older perpetual versions.
Now, if you want to learn the old method, there's still a lot of value in it. I've got an older video here. I'll put a link down below: Cascading Combo Boxes using the old way. And I've even got a second video called Multiple Cascading Combo Boxes. Combo boxes, a jumbo box.
This one, we did a five-tier example. And what I just showed you replaces both of those. So it's fantastic. But these are still some really good techniques. We use multiple nested subforms to fill the tables in. That's pretty cool. You click on this one, you click on that one.
Now, if you want to take this a little further, I've got a really cool extended cut for the members. First, we're going to take cascading combo boxes and use them as unbound filters. We'll put Country, State, and City boxes at the top of the continuous form. Cascade those selections, and then use them to filter the records below.
So now we're not just using cascading combo boxes for data entry. We're using them to build a really nice, easy-to-use search and filtering interface.
All right, so here we go. You pick USA, and it filters the results. Then you pick Florida, and it filters the results. And if you want, if you've got a bunch of people in the same city, you can do that and it'll filter the results. See? That's pretty cool, huh?
And then we're going to look at something I think is even cooler: linking a list box to more than one field at the same time.
We'll build a little pizza ordering example where you pick a size, you pick a crust, and then Access automatically shows you only the pizzas that are available for that particular combination.
You want large and thin? Here's what Paparico says you can have. You want small and deep dish? Sorry, Paparico makes the rules.
You want small, and then there you go. You can get cheese, cheese and mushrooms, cheese and pep. And here's the prices. What are these, 1994 prices?
You want medium and stuffed crust? You get cheese and anchovies, that's all that's available. You want to go large and deep dish? Cheese and pep. Large and thin, cheese and pep. Large and stuffed crust, just cheese. Why? That's what Paparico says.
And that's a great example of something you really couldn't do easily with a simple one-to-one cascade. So we're going to use multiple Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields together. And I'll show you exactly how it works in the extended cut.
For the members, the Silver members and up get access to all of my extended cut videos, not just this one. There's hundreds of them. And Gold members can download these databases that I build in the TechHelp videos. And everybody gets some free training every month. You get one of my free classes, and it's a big party. So come and sit at the Cool Kids table, click that blue Join button, and you'll be one of the Cool Kids too.
But there you go. There is your TechHelp video for today. I hope you learned something. Post a comment down below and let me know how you liked today's video.
Live long and prosper, my friends. I'll see you next time. And members, I'll see you in the extended cut.
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Thanks for watching. I'm Richard Rost with accesslearningzone.com. Live long and prosper, my friends. I'll see you next time. Intro In this lesson, we will walk through creating cascading combo boxes in Microsoft Access without VBA. You will build Country, State, and City tables, add relational combo boxes to a form, and use the Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields properties to filter each child combo box based on its parent selection. We will also discuss the requirements for table/query row sources, hidden link fields, meaningful control names, and how built-in cascading controls work in continuous forms and datasheet view. Quiz Q1. What is the purpose of a cascading combo box?
A. To filter one combo box or list box based on the selection in another control
B. To automatically create new records in a table
C. To sort every table in the database alphabetically
D. To convert text fields into number fields
Q2. Which two properties are used to create built-in cascading combo boxes in Access?
A. Control Source and Row Source
B. Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields
C. After Update and On Current
D. Filter and Filter On Load
Q3. In a cascading combo box setup, what does the Link Master Fields property identify?
A. The field or control that supplies the parent value
B. The table where the child records are stored
C. The field where the selected child value is saved
D. The label displayed next to the combo box
Q4. In a cascading combo box setup, what does the Link Child Fields property identify?
A. The matching field available in the child combo box row source
B. The primary key of the main form
C. The control name of the parent combo box
D. The sort order for the child combo box
Q5. What row source type must a dependent combo box or list box use for built-in cascading to work?
A. Table/Query
B. Value List
C. Field List
D. Attachment List
Q6. Why must the linking field be included in the child combo box row source?
A. Access needs that field to match child records to the selected parent value
B. It is required so the user can edit the field directly
C. It automatically becomes the bound column
D. It is needed only to alphabetize the list
Q7. Does the linking field in the child combo box have to be visible to the user?
A. Yes, it must always be the first visible column
B. Yes, it must be displayed beside the selected item
C. No, it can be included as a hidden column
D. No, because it should not be included in the row source
Q8. In a Country, State, and City example, which field should link the Country combo box to the State combo box?
A. CountryID
B. StateID
C. CityID
D. CustomerID
Q9. In a Country, State, and City example, which field should link the State combo box to the City combo box?
A. CountryID
B. StateID
C. CityID
D. CustomerID
Q10. Why is it useful to give combo boxes meaningful names such as CountryCombo and StateCombo?
A. It makes them easier to identify when selecting controls for Link Master Fields
B. It automatically creates relationships between tables
C. It removes the need for a row source
D. It prevents users from changing selections
Q11. What normally happens to a child selection when its parent value is changed and the existing child selection is no longer valid?
A. The child selection must be chosen again from the newly filtered list
B. Access automatically changes it to the first available record
C. Access keeps the old selection even if it does not match
D. The parent selection is changed back automatically
Q12. What was commonly required before built-in cascading combo boxes were available?
A. An After Update event that requeries the child combo box
B. A macro that exports the form to Excel
C. A validation rule on every table field
D. A separate report for each combo box
Q13. What is a major advantage of built-in cascading combo boxes on continuous forms?
A. Access can evaluate the cascading relationship separately for each displayed record
B. Every row gets a separate copy of the form design
C. The form no longer needs a record source
D. Combo boxes are converted into text boxes automatically
Q14. Which statement best describes the relationship between the old VBA method and the new built-in method?
A. The old method still works and remains useful for learning and specialized situations
B. The old method no longer works in Access
C. The new method requires more VBA than the old method
D. The old method only works with value lists
Q15. What is a good use of unbound cascading combo boxes?
A. Filtering the records displayed in a form
B. Replacing all table relationships
C. Encrypting selected records
D. Automatically backing up the database
Q16. Can a built-in cascading setup use more than one master field and child field combination?
A. Yes, multiple linked fields can be used to filter choices based on more than one selection
B. No, only one field can ever be linked
C. Yes, but only if all controls are value lists
D. No, unless VBA changes the table design
Answers: 1-A; 2-B; 3-A; 4-A; 5-A; 6-A; 7-C; 8-A; 9-B; 10-A; 11-A; 12-A; 13-A; 14-A; 15-A; 16-A
DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks. Summary Today's video from Access Learning Zone covers the new built-in cascading combo box and list box feature in Microsoft Access for 2026. This feature allows one combo box to filter the available choices in another combo box without requiring VBA event procedures, Requery commands, or dynamically changing row sources.
Cascading combo boxes are commonly used whenever one choice depends on another. For example, a user might select a country first, then choose a state or province from that country, and finally select a city within that state. Other common examples include selecting a product category before selecting a product, choosing a department before choosing an employee, or selecting a pizza size and crust before seeing the available pizza options.
Traditionally, setting up this kind of dependent selection required VBA. I would normally use the After Update event of the parent combo box to requery the child combo box. The child combo box would then use criteria in its row source query that referred back to the selected value in the parent control. That method still works, and it is still important to understand because the same concepts apply in many other Access situations.
However, Microsoft has added a much easier built-in option for standard cascading combo box scenarios. This is particularly useful because it also works properly with continuous forms and Datasheet View, two areas where dependent combo boxes have traditionally been more difficult to manage.
The new feature uses two properties that should look familiar if you have worked with subforms: Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields.
The Link Master Fields property identifies the value supplied by the parent control. The Link Child Fields property identifies the field in the child combo box row source that should match that parent value. Access uses those linked fields to automatically filter the child combo box list.
For example, suppose I have Country, State, and City tables. The Country table contains CountryID and CountryName. The State table contains StateID, StateName, and CountryID. The City table contains CityID, CityName, and StateID.
In a properly normalized database, the City table does not need to store CountryID. A city belongs to a state, and the state belongs to a country. Since I can determine the country through the state relationship, storing CountryID again in the City table would be redundant in most cases.
Before adding the combo boxes to a form, I also need fields in the form's underlying record source to store the selected values. For a customer form, for example, I would store CountryID, StateID, and CityID in the Customer table rather than storing country, state, and city names as text.
The first combo box is the Country combo box. Its row source comes from the Country table, and it displays CountryName while storing CountryID. Although the numeric CountryID can be hidden from the user, it is the value stored in the Customer table.
I strongly recommend assigning meaningful names to combo boxes. Rather than leaving a control with a default name such as Combo39, I would name it something useful like CountryCombo. Good control names make forms much easier to maintain, especially when you later need to refer to controls in expressions, macros, queries, or VBA.
Next, I create the State combo box. Its row source comes from the State table. The important point is that the row source must include three fields:
StateID, which is the value being stored.
StateName, which is the value displayed to the user.
CountryID, which is needed to link the State combo box to the Country combo box.
The StateID and CountryID columns can both be hidden. The user only needs to see the StateName, but Access still needs the hidden CountryID field available in the combo box row source.
The State combo box stores StateID in the Customer table. I then name the control StateCombo.
To make the State combo box cascade from the Country combo box, I set its Link Child Fields property to CountryID. This is the CountryID field from the State combo box row source.
I then set the Link Master Fields property to CountryCombo. This tells Access to use the value stored by the CountryCombo control, which is the selected CountryID.
Once those properties are set, the State combo box automatically displays only states that match the selected country. If the user selects the United States, the list shows states such as Florida, New York, and Texas. If the user selects Canada, the list shows provinces such as Ontario and British Columbia.
The third combo box is the City combo box. Its row source comes from the City table and should include CityID, CityName, and StateID.
Again, CityID is the stored value, CityName is displayed to the user, and StateID is included so that Access can link the City combo box to the State combo box. The ID fields may be hidden while CityName remains visible.
The City combo box stores CityID in the Customer table. I give the control a meaningful name such as CityCombo.
For the City combo box, I set Link Child Fields to StateID, because StateID is the common field in the City row source. I set Link Master Fields to StateCombo, because StateCombo supplies the selected StateID.
Now the three controls are linked together. The user selects a country, which limits the available states. The user selects a state, which limits the available cities.
If the user changes the country after selecting a state and city, the existing lower-level selections may no longer be valid. Access will require the user to select a state and city that match the new parent selection. This is exactly what we want because it helps prevent invalid combinations from being stored.
There are several requirements to keep in mind when using this feature.
First, the dependent combo box or list box must use a Row Source Type of Table/Query. This feature does not work with Value List combo boxes. The controls must be based on actual tables or queries.
Second, the field specified in Link Child Fields must be included in the child control's row source. It does not have to be visible to the user, but it must be present in the list of fields returned by the table or query.
Third, the parent control must provide a value that matches the data type expected by the child link field. In the country and state example, the CountryCombo control stores a numeric CountryID, and the State combo box row source also contains a numeric CountryID. Those values must be compatible.
Fourth, use descriptive control names. CountryCombo, StateCombo, and CityCombo are much easier to work with than generic names such as Combo35 or Combo42. Future you may need to troubleshoot the form later, possibly at the end of a long day, and meaningful names make that job much easier.
One of the best parts of this new feature is how well it works with continuous forms. In older versions of Access, cascading combo boxes in continuous forms could be difficult because every displayed row shares the same control definition. Changing the row source or applying a requery could affect all records shown in the form rather than just the current one.
Developers often had to use complicated workarounds involving hidden controls, conditional display techniques, specialized queries, or VBA. The new built-in linking behavior is record-aware, so Access can evaluate the appropriate relationship for each row in a continuous form.
This is also useful in Datasheet View. Although I do not use Datasheet View as often as some developers do, many Access users rely on it heavily. Built-in cascading controls can make data entry in datasheets much more practical and less error-prone.
The older VBA-based method is still valid. I would not recommend replacing existing cascading combo boxes simply because this new option is available. If an existing form works correctly, there is no need to rewrite it. The traditional technique still teaches important Access skills, including After Update events, Requery, combo box row sources, query criteria, form references, and VBA. Those are all useful building blocks for many other tasks.
The new method is simply a more convenient solution for a common job. If Access can handle the linking automatically, there is no reason to add extra VBA unless the situation requires more specialized behavior.
This feature was announced by Microsoft on September 24, 2026, and is being gradually released to Microsoft 365 Access users in Current Channel version 2609. Because the rollout is gradual, two people may both have version 2609 while only one of them sees the new Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields properties at first.
If you do not see those properties yet, be patient and make sure you are using a Microsoft 365 subscription version of Access. New features such as this are generally delivered to Microsoft 365 subscribers and are not added to older perpetual versions of Access.
Also, in today's Extended Cut, we will use cascading combo boxes as unbound filters for a continuous form. I will create Country, State, and City filter controls at the top of a form, cascade those filter selections, and use them to limit the records displayed below. This creates a clean, user-friendly search interface.
We will also look at linking a list box to more than one field at the same time. In a pizza ordering example, the user will choose both a pizza size and a crust type. Access will then show only the pizzas available for that specific size and crust combination. This demonstrates how multiple Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields can be used together to create more advanced filtering behavior.
You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below. Live long and prosper, my friends. Topic List Built-in cascading combo boxes in Access
Creating country, state, and city tables
Using relational combo boxes for lookup fields
Setting up a country combo box
Adding hidden link fields to combo box row sources
Link Master Fields and Link Child Fields
Creating dependent state combo boxes
Creating dependent city combo boxes
Naming combo box controls clearly
Cascading combo boxes in continuous forms
Cascading combo boxes in Datasheet View
Troubleshooting cascading combo box links Article Cascading combo boxes let one selection limit the choices available in another combo box or list box. A common example is selecting a country first, then showing only states or provinces from that country, and then showing only cities from the selected state.
This is useful because it makes forms easier to use and helps prevent invalid combinations. A user does not need to scroll through every state in every country, and they cannot accidentally select a city that does not belong to the selected state. It can also reduce the amount of data Access needs to load into a list.
Microsoft Access now supports this behavior directly through built-in control properties. In many standard situations, you no longer need to write event procedures just to requery a dependent combo box after another combo box changes.
The basic idea is simple. The first control is the parent, sometimes called the master control. The next control is the child or dependent control. The parent provides a value, and the child only displays rows that have a matching value.
For example, suppose you have three tables named CountryT, StateT, and CityT. CountryT might contain CountryID and CountryName. StateT might contain StateID, CountryID, and StateName. CityT might contain CityID, StateID, and CityName.
CountryID is the primary key in CountryT. It is also stored in StateT as a foreign key. This tells Access which country each state belongs to. Similarly, StateID is the primary key in StateT and a foreign key in CityT, identifying which state each city belongs to.
A customer table, order table, or other main table may store CountryID, StateID, and CityID. These fields should generally be numeric foreign keys that point to the related lookup tables rather than storing country, state, and city names as text. Storing the IDs helps preserve consistent data and avoids problems caused by spelling variations.
Start by adding a combo box for CountryID to your form. Its Row Source Type must be Table/Query, not Value List. Its row source should include CountryID and CountryName. Usually, CountryID is the bound column and is hidden, while CountryName is visible to the user. Set the combo box Control Source to the CountryID field in the form's record source.
Give the control a clear name, such as CountryCombo. Naming controls properly makes the form much easier to maintain. A name like Combo39 may technically work, but it becomes confusing as the form grows or needs to be modified later.
Next, add the State combo box. Its row source should come from StateT and include StateID, CountryID, and StateName. StateID is the value that will be stored in your main record, CountryID is needed for the cascade link, and StateName is what the user sees.
You can hide both ID columns if you only want users to see the state name. The important point is that CountryID must be included somewhere in the State combo box row source, even if it is hidden. Access needs that field in order to match states to the selected country.
Set the State combo box Control Source to the StateID field in your form's record source. Then give the control a meaningful name, such as StateCombo.
Open the property sheet for the State combo box and find the Data tab. You will use the Link Child Fields and Link Master Fields properties.
For Link Child Fields, select CountryID. This refers to the CountryID field contained in the State combo box row source. It is the field Access will use to identify which country each state belongs to.
For Link Master Fields, select CountryCombo. This refers to the control on the form that supplies the selected country value.
Once these properties are set, the State combo box will automatically display only the states associated with the selected country. If the user changes the country, Access will update the available states accordingly.
You can then repeat the same process for the City combo box. Its row source should include CityID, StateID, and CityName. CityID is the stored value, StateID is the linking field, and CityName is the displayed value.
Set the City combo box Control Source to the CityID field in the main form's record source. Give it a name such as CityCombo.
For the City combo box, set Link Child Fields to StateID, because StateID is the field in the City combo box row source that identifies which state each city belongs to. Set Link Master Fields to StateCombo, because that control supplies the selected state.
The completed sequence works like this. The user selects a country. The State combo box then shows only states for that country. The user selects a state. The City combo box then shows only cities for that state.
The same feature works with list boxes as well as combo boxes. The key requirement is that the dependent control must use a table or query row source. Value lists cannot participate in this type of built-in cascade because they do not contain relational fields that Access can link.
This feature is especially helpful on continuous forms and datasheet forms. Traditionally, dependent combo boxes in continuous forms were difficult because every visible row shares the same control definition. Changing a combo box row source or applying a filter through code could affect other records displayed on the form. The built-in linking properties let Access evaluate the relationship for each record, making cascaded controls much more practical in these views.
If a cascade does not work, first check that the parent control is providing the same type of value expected by the child link field. For example, if CountryCombo stores a numeric CountryID, then the State combo box row source must include a compatible numeric CountryID field. Linking a numeric ID to a text country name will not work.
Also verify that the child row source includes the field specified in Link Child Fields. The field can be hidden, but it must be present. Confirm that the control is based on a table or query rather than a value list. Finally, make sure you selected the correct parent control in Link Master Fields.
Older cascading combo boxes often used an After Update event on the parent control. That event would requery the child control or replace its row source with a filtered query. That approach is still useful in situations where you need custom filtering logic, unusual criteria, or behavior beyond a standard relational relationship. At a high level, the older approach requires the parent selection to trigger an update of the child list so it only includes matching records.
For normal country-state-city relationships and similar lookup chains, the built-in link properties are simpler and require fewer moving parts. They are also easier to maintain because the relationship is visible directly in the combo box properties.
You can use this method for many other situations. Select a category and then show only products in that category. Select a department and then show only employees in that department. Select a manufacturer and then show only models made by that manufacturer. You can also use multiple linked fields when a dependent list must match more than one condition, such as a product selection that depends on both size and style.
When designing your tables, keep the relationships normalized. A city generally needs a StateID, not both StateID and CountryID, because the selected state already identifies its country. Avoid storing the same fact in multiple places unless there is a specific performance or business reason to do so.
Built-in cascading controls are a practical improvement for data entry forms, search forms, continuous forms, and datasheets. They help users make valid selections, reduce clutter in long lists, and eliminate much of the setup that previously required custom event logic. Primary Topics cascading combo boxes, Link Master Fields, Link Child Fields, relational combo box row sources, parent-child filtering, continuous forms, list boxes Secondary Topics foreign keys, hidden combo box columns, combo box naming, single-record forms, datasheet view, traditional VBA requery method |
