Feedback requested: There is no message for this error

Nobody likes seeing error messages. But when you do, you want the error message to be clear and to the point.

Unfortunately, very occasionally, you may see an error message similar to that shown above.

The message is both unclear and unhelpful in resolving the problem

In fact, any message like this is a bug and the Access team want to know so they can try and fix it if possible.

If you do see this, please let us know the precise circumstances (including Access version and bitness) where it occurs and we will be happy to report the bug on your behalf. Between you, us and the Access team, we can hopefully eradicate these reserved error messages.

NOTE: The reserved error number may vary but always appears to be less than zero.

Please include the reserved error number as part of your feedback.

In the past few months, we have passed on details for several reserved errors:

1. If an MDB file contains a table with a corrupted record, trying to save as ACCDB triggers reserved error -1517 as shown below

2. Relinking a SQL table containing a Spatial Index triggers reserved error -7747:

UPDATE: 6 June 2023 - This error was fixed in Access 365 version 2305

3. Repairing a database after receiving a 2501 error when using SendObject to email a PDF triggered reserved error -3034. In this case, error handling was in use and the standard Access error 3000 is also shown in the error message:

For info, there are two standard Access errors (2626 & 3000) to handle these reserved errors:

4. Trying to save a query that contains a reserved word (e.g. Language) in SQL view, causes Reserved error -1001 and the field affected is highlighted

Despite this the query can be opened in design view and run without error.

The error is easily fixed by enclosing the field name(s) containing reserved words in square brackets e.g. [Language].

However, a clear error message would be far more helpful. Something like this:

Language is a reserved word in Access – either enclose the field name in square brackets or rename the field

5. Viewing a large linked SQL table in datasheet triggers reserved error -7713 after about one minute or when navigating to the last record. After clicking OK in the message box, all values in all columns show as #Name and from there the users are no longer able to view the data. All the data is visible when the datasheet view is first opened.

Another report of this error at an Access forum also describes this happening when a linked SQL table is left open for some time.

The -7713 error indicates that the SQL ODBC driver returned SQL_INVALID_HANDLE, which suggests that we are trying to use a connection that has been closed.

UPDATE: 6 June 2023 - The Access team have so far been unable to reproduce this issue. Can anyone forward an example app that exhibits this behaviour?

6. Trying to query the deep hidden attached table associated with a complex datatype fiels such as column history in memo (long text) fields causes reserved error -3087

7. Reserved error -1524 can occur in certain types of corruption where a text field has an odd number of bytes stored.

A member of the Access team has explained this error as follows:

Text in Access is encoded in UTF-16, which uses either 2 or 4 bytes for each character.

Error -1524 indicates that there is a text field that has an odd number of bytes stored, which is not valid for a UTF-16 string.

NOTE: Most UTF-16 characters are encoded with 16 bits, but since that doesn’t provide enough characters to encode all the potential symbols in some locales, sometimes 32 bits are used.

It would appear that most of the reserved errors in the range - 1500 to -1599 relate to unexpected problems with database structure, often resulting in corruption

8. Reserved error -7745 was reported in this thread at the MS Answers forum: Reserved error -7745 in Access when importing from ODBC - Microsoft Community

In this case the error was related to the use of an unrecognised ODBC driver for linking MySQL tables. This resulted in an unexpected SQL_ERROR response from a call to the SQLStatistics Function

In general, reserved errors beginning with -77 are due to ODBC connection issues

(-7745, -7747, -7713)

Other reserved errors reported in forums or online sites include:

a) Reserved error (-2037): Linking tables in A2016 - MS Access 2016, Reserved error (-2037); there is no - Microsoft Community

b) Reserved error (-1517): query linked ODBC record with corrupt data How to Resolve "Reserved error" in Access (datanumen.com)

c) Reserved error (-1104): navigating a database - ms access reserved error (-1104) there is no message for this error (accessforums.net)

NOTE: Some of these messages go back several years.

We believe there are other similar errors lurking out there. Many (but not all) appear to be associated with corruption and/or linked tables.

Please pass on sufficient details so that the Access team can reproduce / hopefully fix the error.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

UPDATE: 2023-02-09

I am pleased to report that we have already had a response from the Access team outlining the meaning of these errors. The importance of having an example database for MS to reproduce these errors was again stressed

UPDATE: 2023-06-06

Updated info about reserved errors -7747 and -7713

UPDATE: 2023-07-11

Added info about reserved errors -3087

UPDATE: 2023-08-18

Added info about reserved errors -1524 & -7745

NOTE:

An extended version of this article is also available at https://isladogs.co.uk/reserved-errors