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Introduction

A Basic Introduction to Access 2007

Access 2007 was released by Microsoft December 6, 2006. Access

MICROSOFT ACCESS 2007

was designed for the main purpose of allowing users to create their own
personal databases. The table system appears similar to Excel’s, but it is
extremely different because it can store a wide range of values, dates,
and address information. Furthermore, Access can be used with other
Office programs, such as Word. A user can take their database created
in Access that lists, for example, their co-workers’ addresses and then
import this database to Word to write a letter to all their co-workers
using the items in this database.

Purpose

This manual is provided to offer users a basic understanding of the

functionality of Access 2007. It offers a step by step guide to teach
users how to make a database for personal use and provide a basic
understanding of the tools used in Access. This manual will explain the
steps necessary to create tables, fields, relationships and queries. Topics
covered in this manual will include:

 Creating a Blank Database

 Creating Fields and Editing Field Properties

 Creating Relationships Between Tables

 Creating Queries, Forms, and Reports

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Opening Access

Once Access has started it will prompt you if you want to create a blank database
or a template. This manual will cover creating a blank database, so you would want to
click the blank database icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen. Then, Access
will ask you what you want to name your file and where to save the file in the right hand
column; the default name is ‘Database1’.

To change the location of where to save the file, click on the folder icon to the
right of the file name and the window below will ask you where to save the file, then
select okay. When you are done, click the create button to begin the process of making
your database. After this step Access will automatically save your database to this file
or you will receive a message asking you to save the database.
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Once you have selected Create, a blank database will pop up with rows and
columns for you to enter in data. The three main items on this page are the main
toolbar, the All Tables column that lists the tables in your database, and the fields listed
in the table you have open. Access opens a default table called Table1; a database in
Access is comprised of multiple tables of information. Table1 is in ‘Datasheet View’
when it allows the user to enter the data in rows, like below.

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Creating Fields and Editing Field Properties

A user could go ahead and begin entering in their data,

but that is not recommended. If you already know the specific
fields you want in your table, then it is best to change the table
to design view and enter the field names and properties. To
enter the Design View click the ‘View’ tab in the top left hand
corner. There are four views available, but this guide will only
focus on Datasheet View and Design View. Click on Design
View and Access will prompt you to save your table and the
default name will be table1; enter in the name for your table
and click okay.

You should enter Design View and you are shown three columns: Field Name, Data
Type, and Description. Field Name is the name that will display in each column in your
database, like SSN, Age, etc. Data Type tells Access what to store the variable as, such
as text, number, or date. Description is for the user to keep track of what the variable
is used for in the database.

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Access will always have one field preset as ID, you can keep this field as it is or
change it. The user can now go ahead and enter the specific names for the fields. An
example table about employees is shown below to explain how to create fields in Design
View. In the example the employees have nine fields. You may notice that the ID field
has a little key icon to the left of it. This means that this field is designated as the
primary key. The primary key is the unique identifier for items in this table and primary
keys must be different from one another. A user can select two keys to act as a primary
key. All tables must have at least one primary key.

For each field there are eleven different data types. You want to change the Data
Type based off what type of data you are going to store in that field. Most Data Types
are self explanatory. For example, the field ‘Wage’ needs to be stored as currency
because it is the money an employee makes per hour. More than likely, Text will be the
data type that is used most often.

Clicking on each field displays options on the bottom of the screen for how the
field will be displayed. Based on the Data Type, the options differ for displaying the
information in the field. The main options you might want to consider editing will be
discussed. Field Size controls the maximum number of symbols shown in the field. The
Required option determines whether or not all data must contain this field; a social
security number field could be a field that someone might want to set to be required.
Also, Default Value is the value entered into the database automatically if you do not
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enter your own. As an example, the text field, ‘State,’ is shown below and the field size
is set to two, so that the user can only enter two letters as the state initials.

The text field offers the ability to change the input mask. If you click on the
button with the three dots you bring up the Input Mask Wizard to alter how the data is
displayed.

First off, the wizard asks you how you want your data to look and you get quite a
variety of choices. You can search through the list to find the format that best suits
your field and click next. Since the field in the example that is being shown is for the
Zip field, then the Input Mask selected is Zip Code.

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The next window prompts the user to see if they want to alter the Input Mask. If
you don’t want to make any changes go ahead and click finish.

The Format option is also very useful when using numerical values. The Format
option gives you the ability to change units or currencies, as shown in the window
below.
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Once the fields are entered correctly you can enter data into the table by going
back to Datasheet View by going through the View tab at the lop left hand corner and
selecting it. To enter data into the table just type it in like you would do in Excel. Based
on what options you set in each field it may alter how you can enter your data. For
example, when entering the state initials into the state field you can’t enter a text string
longer than two letters because the field size was set to two.

The following is an example of entries for the table Employees.

In addition, under the Datasheet tab you have the options to edit/add/delete fields
and alter how data is displayed without going to Design View.

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A user can also choose to create a new table by

clicking the table button under the Create tab in the
toolbar. It should automatically create a table that is
named table1, which you can rename or delete yourself
by right clicking on it in the All Tables column.

Another example table was created called Projects to help display how to create
relationships and run queries in Access.

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Creating Relationships

You can create relationships between tables

by clicking the Relationships button under the
Datasheet tab, which is the right most tab on the
toolbar. Relationships allow tables to exchange
data between each other.

If you are not automatically prompted to select which tables to display you should
click the show table button under the Design tab on the toolbar. In the example I have
two tables: Employees and Projects. Left click each table you want to display in the
relationship screen.

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After selecting which tables to display in the Relationship screen you will see your
tables displayed with the fields listed inside of them.

To create a relationship left click on a field that has a field with the same value in
the other table and drag it over to the table you want to create a relationship with. For
example, the field Last Name was dragged over to Worker Last Name to create a
relationship between Employees and Projects. Then, you will be prompted with the
following box.

Clicking the create button should

create a black line connecting the two
tables representing a relationship. The
other options shown won’t be covered in
this manual.

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A user can create multiple relationships between tables. If a user tries to create a
second relationship by dragging another field over to the other table, then they are
prompted with this message.

By clicking yes you are allowed to add a second relationship between the two
tables, but it technically says you are editing the previous relationship. In the example
a second relationship can be made between First Name and Worker First Name. To
create this second relationship you have to scroll through the fields in each table and
select First Name and Worker First name, then click create.

Adding this relationship will add a second black line between the two tables shown.
Users can create many relationships. One table can have more than one relationship
with multiple tables as long as the other table as the same type of field in it.
Relationships enable multiple tables to exchange their data, so that advanced
correlations can be made and to ensure data is correctly entered.

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Creating Queries, Reports, and Forms

Creating a query allows the user to select certain amount of data with a specific
set of properties without having to look throughout the whole database. Creating a
Report allows a user to create a printable document with a specific set of data on it, and
reports can be made for queries or tables. Also, a Form will display all the data in a
table through a multiple page document that the user can flip through. The buttons to
create queries, forms, and reports are located under the Create tab.

To create a query you want to click ‘Query Design.’ The screen below should pop
up. However, Query Wizard doesn’t offer the same abilities to customize your query.

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The query design view allows users to show their tables. This specifies what
tables will be in the query. Also, it acts as a reminder as to what fields and relationships
each table contains. The table at the bottom of the screen is where you will be able to
select which fields you want to include in the query. Users will be able to specify the
criteria for the query. The main commands you will want to use in the toolbar below are
the Run, Delete, and Totals commands.

In order to start making a query go

ahead and select the arrow button on the row
that says Field. It will list all the fields in
every table you have selected to run in the
query. In the example to the right, the tables
Employees and Projects are being used.

In our example query the fields ID, Last

Name, First Name, and Project Name are
listed. The Table row tells the user what table
the field is from. The other rows are helpful
as well. The row Sort can display the field in
ascending or descending order. Checking the box in the ‘Show’ row determines whether
or not the to show the row when the query is finished and Criteria specifies what
information you want the query to find.

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Below is an example of how to use the Criteria row. Under Project Name we want
the query to find all Projects with the name “Project Dolphin.” It is okay to use phrase
“=Project Dolphin” too. The query should display the employees names who are part of
Project Dolphin. Once you are done entering in criteria you can hit the Run bottom at
the top left hand corner of the screen.

As you can see, Access created a query called ‘Query1’ with the information we
wanted. You can rename your query or delete it.

When the user clicks to do something else, Access will prompt the user to save the
query, which allows you to rename it.

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To add criteria to another field will act as an AND. For example, if a user wanted
to search everyone who worked in Project Dolphin and with the last name Smith, then
the user would add the word Smith to the criteria box under the Last Name column.
Also, you can use the OR row to run queries to find all the employees in Project Tiger or
Project Panda as shown in the examples below.

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As you write queries you may have noticed that you can
switch between datasheet view and design view just like when
making a table. However, you are offered another view, which
is called SQL View. This view shows the query in its SQL form
or Structured Query Language. SQL is a language for
accessing information from databases, but it will not be
covered in this manual.

Access also allows users to do mathematical

calculations, just like in Excel. If the user clicks the Totals
button under the Datasheet tab in the right hand corner of the
toolbar, then the Total row will be displayed at the bottom of
the screen. In the example below the user can display the
sum of weekly hours for each member of each project.

After running the example query, the query should pop up below, with the Hours
column automatically changed to SumofHours.

There are multiple symbols that can be used when specifying criteria for queries in
Access. User can use <, >, <=, or >= to specific a range of values. Also, you can put
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an asterisk after or before a letter or number, such as ‘p’ or 1, to retrieve all the words
that start or end with ‘p’ or all the numbers that start or end with 1. If a user puts
asterisks on both side of a letter, then any word with that letter at all is retrieved. The
question mark symbol will act as filler for any other symbol. For example, ‘f?nd’ would
find the words find, fend, fond, etc. Another important symbol is ‘<>’, which acts as the
the not equal sign, which is shown below. There are many symbols and reserved words
that Access uses to refine queries, so it is impossible to explain all of them.

Creating a Report

For creating a Report a user needs to first open the table or query they want the
report to retrieve its information from. Then, you need to click the Report button under
the Create Tab.

This will simply take all the information in the table and display it in a printable
document. Just like for the Employees report on the next page.

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A user can customize this report by clicking the view

button and going to Layout View or Design View. A user can
alter columns and rows, add text, or take averages and sums.
Using Report Wizard allows the user to avoid making these
changes after the report is made. Click the Report Wizard
button under the Create tab to run this program.

A window will pop up prompting the user to select what

table or query to run the report for and to select what
information the report will display from that table or query. In
the example below, the table Employees has been selected.
The user selects or removes which fields to display in the
report by clicking the left and right arrows between the boxes
labeled Available Fields and Selected Fields.

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After clicking next the user will be able to select what field to group the
information by and the priority of the groups by using the arrow buttons. You do not
have to group the information. If you feel like customizing how your data is grouped
then click the Grouping Options in the bottom left corner, otherwise click next.

More advanced options are shown and they give the user the ability to alter the
order in which fields are display.

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Summary options are important for making mathematical calculations. In the

example below the only two fields listed are the fields using the number data type.
When you are finished with your settings click okay and it will return you to the previous
window and when you are done selecting the sort order options click next.

These next options specify the layout of the report. When you are done click next.

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Access offers a lot of preset styles for your report to be presented as and you can
preview how the report will look in the box to the left. The default style is Office and
once the user has selected the style they prefer click next.

This last window offers the ability to title the report, preview the report, or make
some last minute design changes. If you feel comfortable with your report click finish.

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Now the user is shown their report; if you do not like how the report is designed or
you can’t read some of the information in the fields then going to the Design View under
the View button under the Home tab on the toolbar should allow you to edit text and
alter the size of your columns so that all the text can be read in the report.

This is the report above shown in Design View.

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One change that was made was changing the text

“Summary for City” to “Total Hours Per Week for,” because
it is easier to understand.

Now changing the window back to Layout View under the View button will show
the changes you have made. Print View will allow you to print the Report.

Creating Forms

Creating forms are quite simple and this manual will not go into detail about
splitting forms or designing forms. In order to create a form from a table or query you
have in your database you need to left click on it from the list in the All Tables column.
Next, click the Form button under the Create tab on the toolbar, just like in the toolbar
below.

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A form should pop up that displays all the entries in the database, but on separate
pages that the user can flip through using the arrows at the bottom left hand corner of
the screen.

With these forms, the user can now print off the information as needed or save the
form to the database.

Closing Access

To close Access click the Office button in the top left hand corner of the screen and
scroll down through you options to the bottom and click Close Database.

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