What does the Access error "Too Many Data Fields Defined" mean?

[Denise]

I have an existing table, which I realized has certain data fields set up
with the incorrect data types. When I tried to change a few from "Long
INteger" to "Text", I got the error above. I did not add any additional
fields or anything. Has anyone encountered this error before, and if so, how
did you work around it/what does it mean?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Douglas J Steele]

Under the covers, Access is creating a new field, transferring the data from
the old field to the new field, then deleting the old field.

Try compacting your database: Access doesn't actually update the field count
unless you compact. (Of course, if you actually DO have 255 fields in your
table, you have a much more serious problem!)