collect data through email messages

[woodsmith1007]

I am using Access to collect data via email. I have a problem that could be solved in one of two ways. I need to collect the unique employeeID of the individual sending the email back. I can required the user to input their employeeID in but the ID that prints on the email (automatically) is a sort order - not the ID. The sort order can change based on new employees into the table, so that number may change. I could also solve the problem by auto populating the employeeID before I send the email but I am unsure of how to do this. Any suggestions would be appreciate.

[Seth Schrock]

What version of Access are you using? I think that Access 2007 had a built in feature that would send out emails and let the user reply to them and Access would then get the necessary information from the email. Access 2010 ended this feature and I'm not sure about previous versions.

[woodsmith1007]

You are correct. I am using Access 2010. Although I have the underlying query for the wizard sorted, the wizard sorts the data by first name of the employee. The employee is a field I am choosing to collect. Since this joined in information, the wizard is smart enough to understand I need to collect an ID and it also provides a nice reference list of the employees at the bottom of the email. The problem is that it applies a "sort" order of its own which is not the employeeID.

[Seth Schrock]

Can't you change which field is put into the email? Is the email a plain text body, or HTML body?

[woodsmith1007]

The email is HTML. The following is what appears on the email. The left number is what the field on the email is asking for but this is some sort of auto sort by the wizard. I do not see a way to force the actual underlying EmployeeID instead. They are sorted by the actual employeeID however but in the following, Mary should be 5 as that is her employeeID - not 3.
1. Kerry
2. Bob
3. Mary
4. Rob
5. Stephene

[Seth Schrock]

What wizard are you using?