Form.Modal property (Access)

Use the Modal property to specify whether a form opens as a modal window. When a form opens as a modal window, you must close the window before you can move the focus to another object. Read/write Boolean.

Syntax

expression.Modal

expression A variable that represents a Form object.

Remarks

The Modal property uses the following settings.

Setting Visual Basic Description
Yes True The form or report opens as a modal window.
No False (Default) The form opens as a non-modal window.

When you open a modal window, other windows in Microsoft Access are disabled until you close the form (although you can switch to windows in other applications). To disable menus and toolbars in addition to other windows, set both the Modal and PopUp properties to Yes.

Use the BorderStyle property to specify the kind of border a form will have. Typically, modal forms have the BorderStyle property set to Dialog.

Use the Modal, PopUp, and BorderStyle properties to create a custom dialog box. You can set Modal to Yes, PopUp to Yes, and BorderStyle to Dialog for custom dialog boxes.

Setting the Modal property to Yes makes the form modal only when you:

  • Open it in Form view from the Database window.
  • Open it in Form view by using a macro or Visual Basic.
  • Switch from Design view to Form view.

When the form is modal, you can't switch to Datasheet view from Form view, although you can switch to Design view and then to Datasheet view.

The form isn't modal in Design view or Datasheet view and also isn't modal if you switch from Datasheet view to Form view.

Note

Use the Dialog setting of the WindowMode action argument of the OpenForm action to open a form with its Modal and PopUp properties set to Yes.

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