Warn but Allow Duplicate Records in Access

In this Microsoft Access tutorial I'm going to teach you how to have the database warn the user if a particular record exists based on a duplicated field such as the phone number but give them the option to either continue adding the record or to open the existing record. We use a little bit of VBA to accomplish this task.

Avery from Alexandria, Virginia (a Platinum Member) asks: There are a couple of different fields that I track a user by in my database. One is their phone number and although I like to try to keep them unique sometimes there are duplicates between two customers, so I don't want to make it indexed (no duplicates). So I'd like to have it where if my user is entering a new customer's record and the phone number is already in the database it warns me but gives the option to either go to the existing record or continue adding the new record. It's not always practical to search up front.

Members

There is no extended cut, but here is the database file:

•  Database Download - Gold Members

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Pre-Requisites

• Intro to VBA: https://599cd.com/IntroVBA
• Before Update: https://599cd.com/BeforeUpdate
• DLookup: https://599cd.com/DLookup
• NZ Function: https://599cd.com/NZ
• If Then: https://599cd.com/IfThen
• MsgBox: https://599cd.com/MsgBox

Links

• Double Double Quotes: https://599cd.com/DoubleDouble
• DDQ Not Single Quotes: https://599cd.com/DDQnotSQ
• Prevent Duplicates: https://599cd.com/CompositeKey
• Indexing: https://599cd.com/Indexing

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• Access Developer Courses: https://599cd.com/Developer

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Keywords

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