Uniquerecords property

You can use the UniqueRecords property to specify whether to return only unique records based on all fields in the underlying data source, not just those fields present in the query itself.

Note: The UniqueRecords property applies only to append and make-table action queries and select queries.

Setting

The UniqueRecords property uses the following settings.

Setting	Description
Yes	Doesn't return duplicate records.
No	(Default) Returns duplicate records.

You can set the UniqueRecords property in the query's property sheet or in SQL view of the Query window.

Note: You set this property when you create a new query by using an SQL statement. The DISTINCTROW predicate corresponds to the UniqueRecords property setting. The DISTINCT predicate corresponds to the UniqueValues property setting.

Remarks

You can use the UniqueRecords property when you want to omit data based on entire duplicate records, not just duplicate fields. Microsoft Office Access 2007 considers a record to be unique as long as the value in one field in the record differs from the value in the same field in another record.

The UniqueRecords property has an effect only when you use more than one table in the query and select fields from the tables used in the query. The UniqueRecords property is ignored if the query includes only one table.

The UniqueRecords and UniqueValues properties are related in that only one of them can be set to Yes at a time. When you set UniqueRecords to Yes, for example, Access automatically sets UniqueValues to No. You can, however, set both of them to No. When both properties are set to No, all records are returned.

Example

The query in this example returns a list of customers from the Customers table who have at least one order in the Orders table.

Customers Table

Company name	Customer ID
Ernst Handel	ERNSH
Familia Arquibaldo	FAMIA
FISSA Fabrica Inter. Salchichas S.A.	FISSA
Folies gourmandes	FOLIG

Orders Table

Customer ID	Order ID
ERNSH	10698
FAMIA	10512
FAMIA	10725
FOLIG	10763
FOLIG	10408

The following SQL statement returns the customer names in the following table:

SELECT DISTINCTROW Customers.CompanyName, Customers.CustomerID
FROM Customers INNER JOIN Orders
ON Customers.CustomerID = Orders.CustomerID;

Customers returned	Customer ID
Ernst Handel	ERNSH
Familia Arquibaldo	FAMIA
Folies gourmandes	FOLIG