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"Ambiguous name detected" error when you run a procedure in Access

  • Applies to: Microsoft Office Access 2007, Microsoft Office Access 2003

Original KB number:   817411

Note

Requires basic macro, coding, and interoperability skills.

Symptoms

When you run a procedure in Microsoft Access 2000 or later, you may receive the following error message:

The expression Event_Name you entered as the event property setting produced the following error: Ambiguous name detected: EventProcedure_Name.

Cause

This error occurs when there are multiple procedures with the same name in a module.

Workaround

To work around this problem, delete the unwanted duplicate procedure. To do this, follow these steps:

  1. Open the form in Design view.

  2. In Microsoft Office Access 2003, click Code on the View menu.

    In Microsoft Office Access 2007, click View Code in the Tools group on the Design tab.

  3. On the Debug menu, click Compile Database Name.

    You receive the following error message:

    Compile error: Ambiguous name detected: Procedure Name.

  4. Notice the procedure name, and then click OK.

  5. In the code, find the other occurrences of the Procedure Name procedure, where Procedure Name produced the compile error mentioned in step 3.

  6. Select and then delete the unwanted procedure.

  7. On the Debug menu, click Compile Database Name.

  8. On the File menu, click Close.