How to find N records in random order in Access 2002 (287682)

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To shuffle the records in a table, create a query that is based on that table and all its necessary fields. Add a calculated field that contains the Rnd() function with a positive integer variable parameter. Then, sort by this calculated field. Every time that you evaluate the query, the records will be shuffled.

To get <n> records at random, set the TopValues property of the query to the number of records that you want.

The Rnd() function requires a numeric argument to return a random number. If the argument is greater than zero, the next random number in the sequence is returned. Because of the way queries are optimized, if you create a calculated field with a numeric argument such as

Expr1:Rnd(1)
				

the query calculates the Rnd() function once and then repeats the same value throughout the recordset. To avoid the repetition, create a calculated field with a variable numeric argument. For example, if the table has an Employee ID field, you can use the following expression as the variable numeric argument:

Expr1:Rnd([Employee ID])
				

If the table does not have a numeric field, write an expression such as the following to calculate a numeric value that is based on any other field:

Expr1:Rnd(Len([First Name]))
				

The Rnd() function ignores the expression, but the variable nature of the argument forces the query to evaluate the Rnd() function for every record.