Access provides several tools for adding, changing, removing, and otherwise updating the data in a database. So, which tool do you use? This topic provides a "roadmap" that briefly describes the tools and the best ways to use them. Links in each section take you to the how-to information for putting the tools to work.

• The Find and Replace dialog box  If you've used Find dialog boxes in other Microsoft Office programs such as Word, you'll recognize this dialog box. You use the dialog box when you need to update a small number of records or update records where the find or replace criteria (the data that you want to find or replace) match a simple pattern. Keep in mind that the Access Find and Replace dialog box has some features that similar dialog boxes in other programs may not provide:
  • The ability to search for data based on its format
  • The ability to search part or all of a record

  For information about using the Find and Replace dialog box, see the topic Find and replace part or all of a record in an Access table, query, or form.

• Data entry forms and datasheets  You can change data manually by first locating a record by navigating to it in a form, and then editing the fields. You can also open a table or a query in Datasheet view (a row and column grid similar to a Microsoft Excel worksheet) and change the data manually. Making changes to forms and datasheets works best when you need to change only a small number of records or parts of a single record. Forms can be very intuitive, and you can make changes without any deeper knowledge of Access (such as the ability to create and run queries).

  For more information about changing data by using either method, see the topic Add, edit, and delete data.

• Update queries  You use update queries when you need to add, change, or delete part of an existing record. You can think of update queries as a powerful form of the Find and Replace dialog box. You enter a select criteria (the rough equivalent of a search string) and an update criteria (the rough equivalent of a replacement string). Unlike the dialog box, update queries can accept multiple criteria, you can update a large number of records in one pass, and you can change records in multiple tables.

  Keep in mind that you cannot use update queries to add or delete entire records. To do those types of jobs, you use append queries and delete queries, respectively — the next sections describe those types of queries.

  For information about creating and running update queries, see the topic Change existing data with an update query.

• Append queriesYou use append queries when you need to copy records from one or more tables to the end of another table. For example, you can move old data from several of the tables in your database to an archive table. You can also add records from other sources, such as accounting data from the previous quarter for each of the branch offices in your company.

  As with update queries, you can also use criteria in your append queries. For example, say you need to append only the accounting records for a specific office to your database. You can specify the fields that you want in your append query, and Access will ignore the remaining data.

  For information about creating and using append queries, see the topic Create an append query (MDB).

• Delete queries  You use delete queries when you need to remove entire records. However, remember that if you want to remove only part of a record, you use an update query. Also, you cannot undo the results of a delete query, so make sure that you really want to delete that data.

  For information about delete queries, see the article Delete one or more records from an Access database.