Seeing that SQL Server will only store the data that is present in a VARCHAR field and will not waste space, is there any reason why the field length of the data field in Taxon_Occurrence_Data is only 20 characters (similar for the other measurement types though some are 40)? I guess I can answer my own question - the reason is legacy from Access when we were trying not to waste space. But I want to be able to attach descriptive data to my occurrences, and to keep these descriptions in separate fields rather than mix it all up in the comments field. The measurements would seem an ideal place to keep these (unless we go the whole hog and add a new tab for descriptors) but for the data length issue. I appreciate that the measurements grid may not cope well with longer pieces of text, but my primary concern at this stage is getting data in so that it is most useful in future.