Deleting input masks

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I was able to eliminate un-used masks in the wizard for Access 2003 but am stuck with 2007. Any ideas?

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I’m not sure I understand what you mean by “un-used input masks” – any input mask on a control is active as long as it is defined. Are you referring to Import Specifications by chance? If so, you can go to the External Data ribbon and then chose the Saved Imports option on the left side of that ribbon, and it brings up a dialog box where you can manage both Import and Export Specifications.

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I want to eliminate input masks that are presented as options in the design view of a table in the input mask wizard.

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Are you saying that you want to modify the way the wizard works? or just remove an unwanted mask from a table?
How did you do it in 2003?

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In 2003 I followed the following procedure:
This is for Access 2002 and 2003:
– Quit Access.
– Make sure that hidden files and folders are displayed in Windows Explorer.
– Start Windows Explorer, and navigate to C:Documents and Settings<username>Application DataMicrosoftAccess where <username> is your Windows username.
– There should be a file named ACWZUSRT.MDT.
– Make a copy of this file, to act as backup.
– Double click ACWZUSRT.MDT; it will open in Access.
– WARNING: don’t mess with the contents except for what is described below.
– Activate the Tables section of the database window.
– Open the table named im_TblInputMask.
– Go to the last record. Custom input masks will be at the end.
– Delete the record(s) you want to get rid of.
– Close the table and ACWZUSRT.MDT.

This came from Hans, if I recall.

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I found this postwhich says that you can now find the equivalent at:

C:UsersAppDataRoamingMicrosoftAccessACWZUSR12.ACCDU

On my Vista machine I could open it. and see the Input Masks table, but I have not tried to change anything.

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My take on this whole subject is that the only person who should ever be seeing the input mask definitions is the developer, and because of that, deleting ones you don’t think you will use is pretty much pointless. If on the other hand you are letting people look at the design of your database, then you have much larger potential problems than a few unused input mask definitions in the wizard.

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Thank you for your comments.

My grandson is taking a course in Access, and his locally purchased PC, (Guatemala) shows only about five default masks in table properties. John´s post allowed me to edit his Access to show a more complete list of masks, which lets him follow the exercises in his class.

I realize that this is not a problem that you are normally acustomed to seeing but, never the less, it is important to my grandson.

Thank you, John, for your information.

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