title: Fields not showing in design view
body: <p>I'm working on an Access 2003 database, divided into front and back ends. I've attempted to compact and repair the database, which appears to do nothing.</p>
  
  <p>After running various export processes I noticed that some of the columns reported as transferred didn't seem to tally with what was displayed in the design view.</p>
  
  <pre class="lang-vba prettyprint-override"><code>Public Sub Test()
  
      Dim db As Database
      Dim td As TableDef
      Dim f As field
      Set db = CurrentDb
      Set td = db.TableDefs("TBL tablename")
  
      For Each f In td.Fields
          Debug.Print f.Name
          Debug.Print f.Properties("ColumnHidden").value
      Next f
  
      Set f = Nothing
      Set td = Nothing
      Set db = Nothing
  
  End Sub
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Further tests ascertained that the table actually had several fields, some of which were replication fields (the database had previously been replicated, but not anymore).  More importantly, some of the fields were required data fields, containing data necessary to the project.</p>
  
  <p>I have some questions regarding this:</p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>Is there a setting in the background that allows the field to be hidden <strong><em>in design view</em></strong>?</li>
  <li>If not, is this a good indicator of corruption?</li>
  </ul>
  
  <h2>Update</h2>
  
  <p>I've tested the theory further by writing a query to pull the data back, which also works fine:</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yHc0n.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/yHc0n.png" alt="Query Design Grid"></a></p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RXCLf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/RXCLf.png" alt="Results"></a></p>
  
  <p>...and the table design...</p>
  
  <p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jsmtP.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/jsmtP.png" alt="Table design"></a></p>
  
  <h2>Update <em>(06/06/2016)</em></h2>
  
  <p>I've written a process to extract as much data as possible from the database and drop it into a new one. Though I don't think Microsoft Access is a suitable platform for this application, at present it will have to suffice. In the future, I will attempt to move it to SQL Server to stablise its operation, but in the meantime it will have to serve as is.</p>
  
  <p>I've posted the solution I used to do this <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/37327152/indexing-in-vba-access-2003-field-association">here</a>.</p>