Programming Microsoft Access Visual Basic

Apparent Microsoft Access Bug with Global Variables & OutputTo Using Crosstab Query Docmd Method

We have recently encountered what appears to be a bug in Microsoft Access 2000, 2002 & 2003. This bug occurs when we setup a query with global variables in the criteria (where clause).  Then we use this query as input to a crosstab query.  The next step is to use the Docmd.OutputTo command to send the results of the cross tab out as an Excel spreadsheet.  The bug is centered around the OutputTo method.

The easiest work around we found was to change the crosstab query to a make table query and then export the temporary table to Excel - this method works fine.

There are other bugs with crosstab queries such as not being able to reference form fields as criteria in the crosstab or queries supplying data to the crosstab query. (thanks Bill).

Try our downloadable Access database demonstration of using Global variables as query parameters.