Query make table - allow blanks

[dasaki]

I'm using access 2007 and I'm trying to use the make table query in order to pull data from different tables together. The tables are linked by a unique ID #. Right now the query does not return anything if even one of the tables does not have all the columns filled out. How can I allow blanks in my table? For example if there is no info about unique id#1 in tables 2 and 3 I would still like to create a table with the unique id# and blanks for those columns or null values.

This is my previous post regarding my whole structure:
http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=559843

I feel like I can put something in the criteria section under query design for each column. Any help would be appreciated

 

[Joe4]

When you read up on queries, pay special attention to the different join types between tables. An inner join will only return records with matches on both sides, but left joins will return all the records in one of the tables, and all the matching information from the other (and nulls where there is no match).

You can find lots of stuff on the internet that explain how these joins work. Here are a few:
http://www.databasedev.co.uk/query_joins.html
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/access-help/join-tables-and-queries-HA010096320.aspx
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/a...n-outer-join-query-in-access-HA001034555.aspx

 

[dasaki]

Okay thanks guys. That makes a lot of sense. So take the table with the IDs and then run a query and do outer joins with all the tables to get the fields I want. Hopefully I can figure this out. Thanks a lot!

 

[Norie]

I think what you want is a left (outer) join, and I think the left part might be important for what you need.