Looking for more ways to get your work done quickly when using your Microsoft Office Access 2007 database? Explore some of these tips.
Tips for a quick startup
- Jump start your database creation by using templates from the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page that appears when you start Microsoft Office Access. You can either select a template that is already installed in your computer or download a template from Microsoft Office Online. These templates contain prebuilt tables, forms, and reports that you can customize.
- To create a new database, press CTRL+N.
- Use prebuilt fields to easily add fields. From the Field Templates, open the table where you want to add a new field, and then on the Datasheet tab, in the Fields & Columns group, click New Field. Select one or more fields in the Field Templates pane and drop the field where you want to position it.
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Navigate with ease
- To quickly reopen a recently opened database, on the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access page, in the Open Recent Database list, click the file name for that database.
- To open an existing database, press CTRL+O.
- If you want to know the path of an open database, click the Microsoft Office Button, click Manage, and then click Database Properties. The path of the current database is listed on the General tab of the Database Properties dialog box.
- To minimize or restore the Ribbon, press CTRL+F1.
- While working with form views, you can quickly switch from Design view to Form view by pressing F5.
- When viewing an object in Layout or Design view, just click F4 to open or close the Property Sheet task pane to see the properties of the object.
- To see a list of the fields in a table, press ALT+F8 to display the Field List pane.
- To send an active database object as an attachment to an e-mail message, select the object in the Navigation Pane, and then press ALT+F+E.
- To close Access, press ALT+F4.
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Working with data
- Be aware that data can appear to be one data type but actually be another data type. For example, a field may seem to contain numeric values but actually contains text values, such as room numbers.
- While applying a filter (filter: A set of criteria applied to data in order to display a subset of the data or to sort the data. In Access, you can use filtering techniques, such as Filter By Selection and Filter By Form, to filter data.), certain characters, such as *, %, and ?, have a special meaning when specified in a filter text box. To disregard the special meaning of a character, enclose it in square brackets [], like this: a[*].
- To change a combo box (combo box: A control used on a form that provides the combined functionality of a list box and a text box. You can type a value in a combo box, or you can click the control to display a list and then select an item from that list.) to a list box (or vice versa) on your form, right-click the control, click Change To, and then click the control type that you want.
- After previewing your report (report: An Access database object that you can print, which contains information that is formatted and organized according to your specifications. Examples of reports are sales summaries, phone lists, and mailing labels.) in Access, you can export the results to Word 2007, Excel 2007, or several other Office programs. On the External Data tab, in the Export Data group, click the button for the format that you want, and then follow the instructions in the wizard.
- After you open the property sheet for a table, query, form, or report, the property sheet pane remains open for all objects in Design view until you close it. Likewise, if you close the property sheet in Design view, the pane is closed for all other objects in Design view until you reopen it.
Formatting tips when viewing a form or report in Design View or Layout view:
- To align the text in a selected control to the left, press CTRL+L.
- To align the text in the selected control to the right, press CTRL+R.
- To center the text in the selected control, press CTRL+E.
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Simple actions to keep your data safe
- Back up your database before you edit or delete records to help protect the database from system failures and also against mistakes that the Undo command cannot fix. It is also a good practice to make a backup of your database immediately before you run any action query, especially if the query will change or delete a lot of data. To start a backup operation, click the Microsoft Office Button
, point to Manage, and then click Backup Database.
- When making a backup, we recommend that you use the default file name. That way, when you restore data or objects from a backup, it is easier to determine which database the backup came from and when the backup was made.
- Splitting a database is another way to prevent the corruption of database files and limit the loss of data by keeping the data in a separate file that users do not access directly.
For more information about splitting a database, see the article Split a database.
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