How can I prevent Microsoft Access from changing the relationship layout?

I have never heard of a Lock option, and it is not in my version of Access.
I'm skeptical about that post.

Can you show me where you find this "Lock Layout" option you mentioned

As Ken pointed out, you can "SAVE" the layout before closing it, but I can't locate anything saying "Lock Layout" here. Is it somewhere else in Access?

Hi,

I'm Sneha and I'd be happy to help you out with your question. Sorry for the inconvenience caused.

One solution to prevent Access from changing the layout is to lock the layout. To do this, you can follow these steps:

1. Open the Relationships window.
2. Click on the "Design" tab.
3. Click on "Tools" in the menu bar and select "Layout Locking."
4. Check the box that says "Lock layout" and click "OK."

By locking the layout, any changes to the layout of your relationships will not be saved when you close and reopen the Relationships window.

Another option is to use the built-in diagramming tool in Access to create a visual representation of your relationships. This can also help prevent any changes to the layout. To create a diagram, follow these steps:

1. Open the Relationships window.
2. Click on the "Design" tab.
3. Click on "Diagram View" in the menu bar.
4. Drag and drop your tables onto the diagram.
5. Use the tools in the "Diagram" tab to arrange your tables and create connections between them.
6. Save the diagram.

By using the diagramming tool, you can create a diagram that can be saved and opened without any changes to the layout.

For more Information, please refer to following resources :-

1. Can I prevent Access from changing the Relationships - https://answers.microsoft.com/thread/d0ac56db-dfce-436d-a61d-e7dcdfcaed41
2. Define relationships between tables in an Access database - https://learn.microsoft.com/office/troubleshoot/access/define-table-relationships
3. Guide to table relationships - https://support.microsoft.com/office/guide-to-table-relationships-30446197-4fbe-457b-b992-2f6fb812b58f
4. Move and resize controls independently - https://support.microsoft.com/office/move-and-resize-controls-independently-3d0bebde-592d-4191-adc8-f8db0650a761

If you have any other questions or need assistance with anything, please don't hesitate to let me know. It will be my pleasure to Assist you.

Best Regards, Sneha

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Have you tried saving the relationship window before you close It?

One thing I notice from your screenshot is that none of the relationships appear to be enforced.  An unenforced relationship serves no useful purpose, and it is essential to the integrity of the database that the enforcement of referential integrity is selected in each relationship dialogue.

If you are using autonumber columns as the primary keys then you do not need to enforce cascade updates, but you should usually do so otherwise.  The enforcement of cascade deletes is much more of a matter of judgement.  It should only be done if you are certain that you want the matching rows in a referencing table to be deleted when you delete the relevant row in the referenced table.  Otherwise leave it unenforced, in which case you will not be able to delete a row from a referenced table if one or more matching rows exists in a referencing table in the relationship.

Finally, I see that you have included spaces in column names.  This can cause notational problems, and most experienced Access developers advise strongly against the use of spaces or other special characters in object names.  Either represent a space by an underscore character like_this or use camel case LikeThis.

Edited: Reference to cascade deletes in para 3 corrected to cascade updates.