Depending on the version of Access, you can delete the records above 1808 and
Compact the database.

However.... this is just in the nature of autonumbers. An autonumber has one
function, and one function ONLY: to provide a unique key. They are not
designed to be gapless; deleting a record, hitting <Esc> while entering a
record, or (as you have found) running an append query will "use up"
autonumber values and leave a gap. If you Replicate your database all
autonumbers will become random - 3037 might be followed by -1950038125 and
then by 418226453. Generally autonumbers should be kept "under the hood", used
for linking tables only and not exposed to the user. If you want
human-meaningful sequential numbers, use a Long Integer field and manage the
incrementing yourself in code.

            John W. Vinson [MVP]