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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-05-27T17:16:46+00:00

So I am in the process of rewriting an MS Access application to a

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So I am in the process of rewriting an MS Access application to a SQL server backend. I am struggling with some unusual behavior in the way Access is using MAX() and how SQL Server is doing it. Maybe it is lack of sleep but I have been staring at this for hours and I can’t figure out why the SQL server results are different.

Sample Data:

Acct        ByUser  TranType    TranID      AddID   ClearTime               TranTime
12345678    CZ12           W    55545124    CZ36    12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM   12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM
12345678    CZ24           W    55545124    CZ36    12/12/2011 10:01:26 AM  12/12/2011 10:01:26 AM
12345678    CZ36           W    55545124    CZ36    12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM   12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM
12345678    MG12           W    55545124    CZ36    12/12/2011 10:48:43 AM  12/12/2011 10:48:43 AM
12345678    CZ25           W    55545124    CZ36    12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM   12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM

MS Access query:

SELECT Acct, TypeID, TranType
    , Max(TranTime) AS MaxOfTranTime
    , AddID
    , Max(ClearTime) AS MaxOfClearTime
FROM Cleared 
WHERE 
(
    ((ByUser) Like "CZ*" Or (ByUser) Like "TR*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "RR*" Or (ByUser) Like "MG*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "RN*" Or (ByUser) Like "PS*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "OP*" Or (ByUser) Like "JA*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "IC*" Or (ByUser) Like "IB*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "FO*" Or (ByUser) Like "DV*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "CD*" Or (ByUser) Like "BO*" Or 
    (ByUser) Like "2D*")
)
GROUP BY Acct, TypeID, TranType, AddID

Results in Access:

Account     TranID    TranType  MaxOfTranTime               AddID   MaxOfClearTime
12345678    55545124    W       12/12/2011  10:48:43 AM      CZ36   12/12/2011 9:45:31 AM

The query in SQL server is slightly different in that my ByUsers are stored in a table to minimize typing in tons of queries.

SELECT C.Acct
    , C.RequestId
    , C.TypeCode
    , Max(C.TranTime) as MaxTranTime
    , C.AddUserId
    , Max(C.ClearDate) As MaxClearDate
FROM Cleared C
WHERE EXISTS (SELECT *
                FROM UserIdFilter U
                WHERE ByUserId LIKE U.UserId) 
GROUP BY Acct, RequestId, TypeCode, AddUserId

The SQL Server results are:

Account     TranID    TranType  MaxOfTranTime          AddID    MaxOfClearTime
12345678    55545124    W      12/12/2011  10:48:43 AM  CZ36    12/12/2011  10:48:43 AM

When I go through this it seems to me that SQL server is correct in getting the MaxOfClearTime of 12/12/2011 10:48:43 AM but am I missing something? Does Access process MAX() differently? I feel like I am losing my mind with this so any other eyes on this would be great.

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1 Answer

  1. Editorial Team

    I put the data you provided in Access and ran the query, and it provided the output I’d expect i.e. 10 > 9.

    Of course I did assume that both ClearTime and TranTime are being stored as DateTime, If I change them to Text and alter the formatting to match your sample then I get the same results as you i.e. "9" > "10".

    Could you check the schema of the table in MS Access?

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