How to Update Fields from a Drop-Down List in Access Forms

Open the Engineers table in Design View. Ensure you have a field named 'EngineerID' set to the AutoNumber data type, and mark it as the Primary Key.

Open your form in Design View. From the Form Design ribbon, drag a Combo Box control onto the form. Cancel the wizard if it appears, leaving the combo box unbound.

Open the Property Sheet for the combo box. Set 'Row Source' to your Engineers table. On the Format tab, set 'Column Count' to 2 (ID and Name) and 'Column Widths' to '0";1.5"' to hide the numeric ID from users.

Go to the Event tab in the Property Sheet, click the ellipsis (...) next to 'After Update', and choose Code Builder. Enter this VBA code: Me.RecordsetClone.FindFirst "[EngineerID] = " & Me![ComboBoxName] followed by Me.Bookmark = Me.RecordsetClone.Bookmark.

Open your form in Design View. On the Form Design ribbon, ensure the 'Use Control Wizards' option is toggled on (highlighted).

Click the Combo Box icon in the Controls group and click on your form to place it. The Combo Box Wizard will launch automatically.

In the wizard dialog, select the third option: 'Find a record on my form based on the value I selected in my combo box', then click Next.

Select the fields you want to appear in the drop-down list (e.g., First Name, Last Name). Ensure the 'Hide key column' box is checked so the ID remains invisible, then click Finish.

In your Projects table, create a field named 'AssignedEngineerID' with the Number (Long Integer) data type. This will link to the EngineerID AutoNumber.

On your main Project form, add a combo box bound to the 'AssignedEngineerID' field, configured to display the engineer's name but store their ID.

Drag a Subform control onto your main form and bind it to the Engineers table. Link the 'Link Master Fields' to the combo box and 'Link Child Fields' to the EngineerID to automatically display the correct contact details.