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Move Option Group Controls Using Code       Page 2 (of 2)

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Version 1.5 First Published 14 May 2026



This first part of this article discussed solutions to a problem raised by a former Access MVP about moving all the components of an option group together as a group.

Despite the control name, the components of an option group behave independently in form view. They do not automatically move together with the container.

By contrast, in both design view and layout view, Access 'helpfully' manages the option group components so they do move as a group when the container frame is selected!

This issue does NOT affect other controls made up of several components such as subforms and tab controls.



The first article included two sets of code to move all the option group components together as a group:
•   Use the same tag property for each control in the option group and loop through all the controls in turn identifying which should be moved (see Form 3)
•   Use code to identify all the option group controls and loop through these in the same way (see Form 4)

The code in both Form3 and Form4 works perfectly for small OFFSET values such as 200 twips (approx 0.35 cm) whether the option group controls are arranged vertically or horizontally

However, for larger OFFSET values such as 800 twips (approx 1.4cm), both sets of code will give incorrect results.
The option group height will increase and, in the case of Form4, the option buttons and labels become misaligned.

Form4 at start Form4: Offset = 800px after up & down clicks
Form4 At Start Form4: Offset errors


The same problems occur for both vertically and horizontally aligned option controls at large offsets.

There are two reasons for these issues:
•   If the offset value is too large the components could try to move outside the frame which is prohibited.
    For example on clicking the Up button, the position of the lower option group button may constrain the bottom frame position but the code forces the top position to move up.
    Similar issues occur on clicking the Down button.
•   Controls in an option group are referenced from top to bottom.
    If you change the top property value by a large offset, the control order may be altered and prevent the looping code working correctly.

In this article, I will provide modified code that overcomes both problems and so also works correctly with large offsets.



Form3A - modified Tag property loop code

In the revised code, the option frame is handled separately to the group controls.
a)   When the Up button is clicked, the frame height is first increased (temporarily) by the offset value to make space for all moved controls.
b)   The top of the option frame is now moved up to make space for when the controls are moved.
c)   Next the code loops through and moves all the group controls (identified by the Tag property = "OG") up.
d)   Finally, the option frame height is again reduced by the offset value to restore its original height

When the Down button is clicked, the sequence is similar but the top of the option frame must be moved down AFTER looping through to shift all the group controls down. 

Dim ctrl As Control
Const OFFSET As Long = 800

'Form3A:
'This modified code uses the Tag property to loop through the option group
'controls to move them as a group. The option frame is treated separately
'Also works for larger offset values e.g. 800

Private Sub cmd_Down_Click()

    If Me.Frame0.Top + Me.Frame0.Height < 4 * 1440 Then
        Me.Frame0.Height = Me.Frame0.Height + OFFSET 'Increase the frame height before moving the controls
        For Each ctrl In Me.Controls
            If ctrl.Tag = "OG" Then ctrl.Top = ctrl.Top + OFFSET 'Move the controls down
        Next
        Me.Frame0.Top = Me.Frame0.Top + OFFSET 'Move the option frame down after moving the controls
        Me.Frame0.Height = Me.Frame0.Height - OFFSET 'Restore the original frame height after moving the controls.
        
    End If

End Sub

Private Sub cmd_Up_Click()

    If Me.Frame0.Top > OFFSET Then
        Me.Frame0.Height = Me.Frame0.Height + OFFSET 'Increase the frame height before moving the controls
        Me.Frame0.Top = Me.Frame0.Top - OFFSET 'Move the option frame up before moving the controls
        For Each ctrl In Me.Controls
            If ctrl.Tag = "OG" Then ctrl.Top = ctrl.Top - OFFSET 'Move the controls up
        Next
        Me.Frame0.Height = Me.Frame0.Height - OFFSET 'Restore the original frame height after moving the controls.
    End If

End Sub


Form3B has horizontally aligned option group controls with exactly the same code used as for form3A.
However, the code will NOT work as written where multiple option groups are used as only one frame is referenced in the code.

Using the Tag property is perhaps slightly simpler if you only need to move one option group. However where multiple option groups are involved, use the alternative code in Form4A.



Form4A - modified option group loop code

In the revised code, the option frame is again handled separately to the group controls and uses the same sequence as for Form3A
a)   When the Up button is clicked, the frame height is first increased (temporarily) by the offset value to make space for all moved controls.
b)   the top of the option frame can now be safely moved up.
c)   Next the code loops through and moves all the group controls up.
d)   Finally, the option frame height is again reduced by the offset value to restore its original height

When the Down button is clicked, the sequence is again similar but the controls are looped through in reverse order starting with the last (bottom) control.
Also the top of the option frame is moved down AFTER looping through to move all the controls down. 

Private Const OFFSET As Long = 800

'Form4A:
'Modified code by Xevi Batlle which loops through all the
'option group controls to move them as a group.
'Also works for larger offset values e.g. 800

Private Sub cmd_Down_Click()

Dim I As Long

    If Me.Frame0.Top + Me.Frame0.Height < 4 * 1440 Then
        For I = Me.Controls.Count - 1 To 0 Step -1
            If Me.Controls(I).ControlType = acOptionGroup Then
                Me.Controls(I).Height = Me.Controls(I).Height + OFFSET 'Increase the frame height before moving the controls
                Call ListOptionGroupContents(Me.Controls(I), OFFSET) 'Move the controls down
                Me.Controls(I).Top = Me.Controls(I).Top + OFFSET 'Move the option frame down after moving the controls
                Me.Controls(I).Height = Me.Controls(I).Height - OFFSET  'Restore the original frame height after moving the controls.
            End If
        Next
    End If

End Sub

Private Sub cmd_Up_Click()
Dim ctrl As Control

    If Me.Frame0.Top > OFFSET Then
        For Each ctrl In Me.Controls
            If ctrl.ControlType = acOptionGroup Then
                ctrl.Height = ctrl.Height + OFFSET  'Increase the frame height before moving the controls
                ctrl.Top = ctrl.Top - OFFSET 'Move the option frame up before moving the controls
                Call ListOptionGroupContents(ctrl, -OFFSET) 'Move the controls up
                ctrl.Height = ctrl.Height - OFFSET   'Restore the original frame height after moving the controls.
            End If
        Next
    End If

End Sub

Sub ListOptionGroupContents(optGroup As Control, local_OFFSET As Long)

Dim ctl As Control
Dim I As Long

    ' The controls in a group of options are numbered from top to bottom according to their position on the screen,
    ' so if you change the "Top" property, controls might be renumbered and may not display correctly when you loop through them.
    
    ' Loop through each control inside the option group
    ' When local_OFFSET is negative this procedure list loop all the controls from top to bottom
    If local_OFFSET < 0 Then
        For Each ctl In optGroup.Controls
            ctl.Top = ctl.Top + local_OFFSET
        Next ctl
    Else
        ' When local_OFFSET is positive this procedure list loop all the controls from bottom to top
        ' Loop from last control to first control
        For I = optGroup.Controls.Count - 1 To 0 Step -1
            Set ctl = optGroup.Controls(I)
            ctl.Top = ctl.Top + local_OFFSET
        Next I
    End If
    Set ctl = Nothing
    
End Sub


More forms:
Form4B has horizontally aligned option group controls with exactly the same code used as for Form4A.
Form4C has two option groups with both vertically and horizontally aligned controls. This also works with no code changes required.

Form4A Form4B Form4C
Form4A - Vertically aligned controls Form4B - Horizontally aligned controls Form4C - Both types of option group controls


This approach is definitely much easier to work with if you need to move more than one option group at the same time.



Download

Click to download the example app used in this article:       Option Group Move v1.5      ACCDB file - Approx 0.6 MB (zipped)

As is the case for all files downloaded from the internet, first unblock the downloaded file, unzip then save to a trusted location.
For more details, see my article: Unblock downloaded files by removing the Mark of the Web



Acknowledgements

Many thanks to:
•   Shane Groff - for confirming the behaviour of the option group control as being by design (not a bug)
•   Xevi Batlle - for suggesting the approach used in Form4. Also for bug testing earlier versions of the example app.



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Colin Riddington Mendip Data Systems Last Updated 14 May 2026




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