Getting started with Microsoft Access

• To run Access, click Start > All Programs > Microsoft Office > Microsoft Access.

• When Access opens, the workspace will be empty.

 

Creating, saving, and opening files

• To create a new database, click File > New or click the [New] button on the toolbar.  (In newer versions of Access, this will open a New File pane on the right side of the screen.)  Click Blank Database to create a new database.

• Access will immediately ask you to save the database.  Name your database and save it in a good location (i.e., to your P: drive or to the Save Here folder on the desktop).

• Access will also save changes to each part of your database as you create it.  You can save the project at any time by clicking File > Save or clicking the [Save] button on the toolbar.

• To open an existing database, click File > Open, then browse to your database.

 

Navigating the workspace

After you click [OK] to create a new database, the screen will look like this:

Note the different objects you can create in the database window.  Clicking on an object will bring up various options for creating that type of object.  For example, if you click on [Forms], you will see two icons in the right side of the window: Create form in Design view, and Create form by using wizard.

As you create objects, they will also be listed in this window under their object type.  All of your tables can be accessed by clicking on [Table], and all of your reports by clicking on [Report].

 

Basic concepts of Access

Each type of object has different uses.  Together, they can help organize and manage various kinds of data.

It is very important to think about what kinds of data your database will hold, and how it can be organized, before you try to create your database.  Consider which data will go into which table, and what relationships exist between the various data.

• For example, if you are creating a business database to help organize product shipping and distribution, you may need individual tables for your customer list, your product catalog, your suppliers, the shipping companies you use, and a list of the orders made.  Then you could use Access to make reports correlating orders with the addresses of customers who made them, among other possibilities.

 

Tables

Tables are an essential element to any database.  They store all the information you have.  It is usually ideal to use a separate table for each kind of information. 

• For example, if you want a database to help complete grad school applications, you might want one table listing schools and their addresses, another listing professors and their addresses, and a third table listing professors and the schools they are writing recommendations to.

Tables are very similar to spreadsheets in terms of how data is entered and how they are organized.  An important difference is that each row in a table—each ‘record'—must have a unique identifier.  This is called the primary key.  The primary key allows Access to distinguish between records that might otherwise be identical, just as license plate numbers identify cars.

Separate tables can be linked by creating relationships between data fields in each table. 

• In the above example, you would want to create relationships between the first two tables and the third, so that the third table draws its professor information from your list of professors, and its grad school information from your list of grad schools.

 

Queries

Queries compile data fields from multiple tables into a single table, which can then be accessed by forms.  (USE).

 

Forms

Forms can provide an easy way to view and create records in your tables.  A typical data-entry form will have clearly labeled text boxes, buttons, or lists to enter data into a table.  Users can easily put data into one of your tables without knowing anything at all about tables or how they work.

You can also create switchboards, which are forms that allow access to forms.  A typical switchboard has buttons leading to data-entry forms.  This allows users who know nothing at all about Access to make full use of your database.

 

Reports

Reports allow you to compile and display data from multiple sources. 

• In our example, you can easily create a report to give to your professors listing the addresses of each school they are writing to.  You could also create a list of schools which includes a list of the professors writing to each school.

 

Relationships

Relationships are a key part of Access's functionality.  Creating relationships between data sets allows Access to understand how each part of your database is connected to the rest.  Typically, the primary key of one table will be linked to a category in another table. 

• In the example, we might set the professors' names as the primary key of that table, then link it to the professors' names in the third table.

Now that you've been introduced to some of the basic concepts of Access, try making a database.