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8. Click Next.

9. Access asks how you want the field data stored in the table:

• With the Symbols in the Mask—Click this option if you want the extra symbols (such as the parentheses and dashes in a phone number mask) stored along with the data.

• Without the Symbols in the Mask—Click this option to store only the data.

10. Click Finish.

The Input Mask Wizard lists the most common data looks, but you may have data such a account numbers, part codes, or employee IDs that don’t fit any of the wizard’s predefine masks. In that case, you need to create a custom input mask, which is a data look that consist of three kinds of characters

? Data placeholders—These characters (see Table 1) are replaced by the actual dat typed by the user. The different placeholders specify the type of character the user must enter (such as a digit or letter) and whether the character is optional or required

? Modifiers—These characters (see Table 2) are not displayed in the mask; instead they are used to modify the mask in some way (such as converting all the entere characters to lowercase)

? Literals—These are extra characters (see Table 2) that display in the mask th same as you enter them in the expression. For example, you might use parentheses a literals to surround the area code portion of a phone number.

Table 1 lists the data placeholders you can use to build your input mask expressions. Click to view full size.

Table 2 lists the modifiers and literals you can use to build your input mask expressions

You can type your input mask data looks directly into the Input Mask property, or you can modify a predefined input mask using the Input Mask Wizard.

For example, suppose your company uses account numbers that consist of four uppercase letters and four digits, with a dash (-) in between. Here’s an input mask suitable for entering such numbers:

>aaaa\-0000

Note, too, that input masks can contain up to three sections separated by semicolons (;): first;second;third

first—This section holds the input mask expression.

second—This optional section specifies whether Access stores the literals in the table when you enter data. Use 0 to include the literals; use 1 (or nothing) to store only the data.

third—This optional section specifies the placeholder character. The default is the underscore (_).

For example, following is an input mask for a ZIP code that stores the dash separator and displays dots (.) as placeholders:

00000\-9999;0;.

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