Access database table- "property too large" error

[aprilleec76]

with my new job i have inherited an extremely poorly built Access database. They do not want to start over. I have recently converted it from 1997 access to 2002 access (which is working in compatibility mode with 2010)
It was working over a network with about 20 users at a time. I recently split it and that's helping a lot. The back-end is huge (1.7gb). This weekend I’m trying to reduce the size of one of the tables. This one table currently has 208 fields. Here is (one) of the problems I’m having:

There are a lot of fields that can be deleted but when in remove them, in get this error message "property value too large" and it does not let me save the changes or delete the field.

Any guidance appreciated

 

[jdraw]

Please tell us more about extremely poorly built. The company has had 20 users on a non-split database without issue for years? How dependent is the company on the database?

 

[aprilleec76]

The database was built in 97-- since then it appears that fields have just been added and added with no real upkeep. One of the main tables the db works off of is "client table" which has 208 fields. The company is extremely dependent on this one database. It's used daily by 20+ people. Data is entered daily. There are literally 100s of other tables in the database, under 10 seem like they are actually still needed. My current focus is on this "client table". I'm deleting fields unused/unneeded but each time it gives me a "property too large" error. It does appear to be saving my deletions though. But the error makes me nervous. This is my first time really working in access 2003 (the company recently upgraded to office 2010 but the database is still in Access 2003) as converting to 2010 does something to the indexes that makes it unusable.... i was going to work on that after getting the size down some). Any help appreciated.

*lastly three three other databases used daily are linked to this "client table"

Thanks

 

[aprilleec76]

Actually, i finally was able to get a few dozen fields that weren't used deleted and this error message has stopped. Thank you!

 

[geme]

Thanks.....................