Access 2003 For Dummies

John Kaufeld

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118053256
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Databases
• Index: Computer Science

When you hear the word "database, " do your eyes glaze over? Does the mention of fields and tables make your blood pressure skyrocket? Does the idea of entering and using hyperlinks make you hyperventilate?

Whether you're running a business or a household... whether you need to be able to quickly access customer information, your recipe for chicken cacciatore, or the Little League team's records, Access 2003 holds the key. This friendly guide unlocks the secrets of using Access 2003 to store, manage, organize, reorganize, and use data! It gives you:

• The basics of the whole database concept
• Suggestions for solving problems with Access
• What you need to know to design, build, use, and change Access tables
• Info on the ten most common types of fields
• The scoop on using queries to unearth the answers hiding somewhere in your data
• Guidelines for using the Access report system to make short work of long, previously time-consuming, reports

In the relaxed, comfortable For Dummies style, this book has easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions and lots of screen shots. If you want to create and manage a database for a huge auction house, this guide will get you going... going... gone. If you want to create a database for your music collection, it gives you the score then shows you how to use formatting and add graphics to jazz it up. You'll get the low-down on extracting all kinds of information from databases and putting that information to practical use. You'll discover how to:

• Use Label Wizard to create mailing labels, file labels, shipping labels, or name tags
• Use Chart Wizard to create line charts, bar, cone, and column charts, pie and donut charts, area charts, and XY and bubble charts
• Use Auto Reports to create columnar or tabular reports and then fine-tune them
• Export reports to Microsoft Word and Excel
• Get your data Web-ready and put it on the Internet in either static or dynamic form
• Build forms with Form Wizard

And speaking of high-tech fun, Access 2003 For Dummies even tells you how to install and use speech recognition software with Access 2003. So if the idea of working with databases has you talking to yourself, this is just the book you need.

Chapter 1

The 37-Minute Overview

In This Chapter

© Starting the program

© Opening a database that’s already there

© Thumbing through the parts of a database

© Finding a record

© Changing a record

© Printing a report

© Saving your changes

© Getting out when you’re finished

I t’s confession time. This chapter probably takes longer than 37 minutes to finish. Then again, you may spend less time than that if you’re somewhat familiar with the program or if you’re a speed-reader. Either way, the chapter does give you a good overview of Access 2003 from start to finish (and I mean that literally).

Because the best way to get into Access is to literally get into it, this chapter leads you on a wild, galloping tour of the software, covering the highlights of what you and Access will probably do together on a daily basis. Think of the chapter as a “Day in the Life” story, designed to show you the important stuff.

If you’re new to Access 2003, this chapter makes a good starting point. If you’re familiar with older versions of Access, I recommend that you skim this chapter anyway to see the changes introduced in this new version. Enjoy the trip!

In the Beginning, There Was Access 2003

To start Access, click the Start button and choose Microsoft Access 2003 from the Start menu (see Figure 1-1). If Access is hiding from you, look for a program group with a name such as Office or Microsoft.

Figure 1-1: For a smart program, Access 2003 doesn’t hide very well.

If you still can’t find Access on the Start menu, you have to create your own shortcut (egads!). Follow these steps to create a shortcut:

1. Click the Start button. Then, depending on which version of Windows you use, choose Find ⇒ Files or Folders or choose Search ⇒ For files and folders.

The Find: All Files dialog box appears.

2. For the file name, type msaccess.exe, and then click Find Now.

Windows finds the program file.

If Windows finds two copies of the program (as Figure 1-2 shows), that usually means your system has both an older and a newer version of Access installed. To tell the two programs apart, right-click the first entry, and choose Properties from the pop-up menu. A little window appears, sharing all kinds of nifty information about the file. Click the Version tab along the top of the little window. For Access 2003, the file version number should start with 11. If it begins with something smaller than 11, close the window and repeat the process with the other file. If neither file shows the right version number, Access 2003 apparently isn’t installed on your machine (or at least Windows can’t find it). In that case, haul out the CD-ROMs and install the little fellow.

3. Right-click (hold down the right mouse button) and drag the file from the Search Results window to the Start button.

The Start menu opens.

4. Drag the file to Programs and release the mouse button where you want Access to appear (see Figure 1-2).

A pop-up menu appears, asking you what you want to do.

5. Choose Create Shortcut Here.

Congratulations. You just added a shortcut to the Start menu!

Granted, the shortcut’s name needs some help (something called shortcut to msaccess.exe looks pretty geeky on your menu), but you can correct that with just another click or two. To rename the shortcut in your menu, right-click and choose Rename. Type a clever new name in the Rename dialog box, and then click OK.

Figure 1-2: Drag the Access icon onto the Start menu to add it to the computer’s program list.

Opening an Existing Database

Access without a database file is like a CD player without a CD: Nice to look at, but you can’t dance to it.

Database files fall into two distinct categories:

U Database files that exist: Odds are good that you’re working with an existing database (after all, you build a database once, but use it forever). If so, read on — this section is for you.

U Database files that don’t exist: If you’re bound and determined to create a database, flip to Chapter 4 for detailed help on design and creation.

If you just started Access 2003, your screen looks like Figure 1-3. By default, Access opens with the task pane displayed. The task pane sits on your screen, looking quite handsome, waiting for you to open an existing database, create a new one, and so on. Opening an existing database takes only a moment — simply select it from the list in the Open section.

Figure 1-3: Success at last — Access 2003 is running and displaying the task pane.

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