Tips to resolve “Microsoft Office Access cannot retrieve field... ”

Occurrence of an error message while mounting, accessing, or closing an MS Access database indicates that there is some problem with the database. In most cases, such problems primarily occur due to corruption or damage in database. A damaged database does not allows the user to view its records. In such situations, if you need to access the records stored in your database, then the best way is to restore it from an updated database backup. However, if the backup is unavailable or has been corrupted, then you will need to use an advanced access repair application that can orderly repair your database.

Picture a situation, where you receive the below error message while mounting your MS Access database:

“Microsoft Office Access cannot retrieve field properties from the system tables. This database
needs to be repaired. If you click Yes, Microsoft Office Access will open the table in Design
view. The settings of the FieldName, DataType, FieldSize, Indexed, and Primary properties will
remain intact, but the settings of other field properties will be lost. You can attempt to
redefine the lost properties, but we recommend that you restore the database from a backup
copy, or close it and use the Compact and Repair Database command (click the Microsoft
Office Button and point to Manage)Do you want to continue?”

As the error message appears on the mounting of the database, it makes all the database records inaccessible.

Cause:

Corruption in MS Access database.

Resolution:

As suggested in the error message, you will need to Compact and Repair your database. To do so, you will need to follow the below steps:

1.On the Toolbar, Click on 'Tools', and then select 'Database Utilities'
2.To proceed, click 'Compact and Repair Database'
3.Next, select the corrupt file in ‘Database to Compact From’.
4.Click 'Compact'.
5.Provide a valid file name to repaired file.
6.Click 'Save'.

The probability of the database repair using the above method is high, but not 100%. In situations where the above repair steps fail to perform, you will need to use a powerful access database repair application. Such Access Repair utilities use advanced scanning and repairing techniques to resolve corruption to maximum possible level. These repair tools are non-destructive in nature and assure safe database repair.