Should I use an input mask on a date field when designing my tables and/or forms?

Question

When an input mask is entered on a field during the design process, forms created after that will inherit the input mask property. Input masks force a user to follow specific guidelines when typing in the field.

Answer 1

I strongly recommend NOT using an input mask on date fields because if the user clicks into the field with a mouse, chances are they will be placed beyond the first character of the field. This requires an awkward keyboard arrow key movement or additional mousing. 

Rather than using an input mask, use the Format Property to force a date to match a particular format.  Picking short date is a common choice. My personal preference is to type "mm/dd/yyyy" in the format property, because that way even if a user has changed the default windows short date property, dates will always appear in the mm/dd/yyyy format. Another advantage to this is that they can manually type the date however they want – even leaving OFF the year, but then Access will correct it for them.