Controls "disappearing" is normal behavior when
"Allow Additions" is set to NO
and
there are no records in the underlying recordsource
"I want the user to be able to enter data and when they are sure they want
to save, I will code the Allow Additions property to Yes and then save the
data."
You can't do this in Access with a bound form. You could have an unbound form,
allow the user to enter data and then decide whether to write it to your
table, but this requires a lot of work that's really unnecessary to
accomplish your goal.
The best way to address your problem would be to
Have a bound form
Have AllowAdditions set to YES
Have code in the Form_BeforeUpdate event that asks the user if they want to
save the record
Either dump the record (Me.Undo) or Save the record
Jeanette's suggestion of setting the Data Entry property to Yes to make the
form go to a new blank record will ***only allow you to enter new records***;
you can't then use the form to view existing records, which sounds like your
goal.