Access 2016 For Dummies

Laurie A. Ulrich, Ken Cook

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781119083108
• eBook ISBN: 9781119083085
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Desktop Applications
• Index: Computer Science

Your all-access guide to all things Access 2016

If you don't know a relational database from an isolationist table—but still need to figure out how to organize and analyze your data— Access 2016 For Dummies is for you. Written in a friendly and accessible manner, it assumes no prior Access or database-building knowledge and walks you through the basics of creating tables to store your data, building forms that ease data entry, writing queries that pull real information from your data, and creating reports that back up your analysis. Add in a dash of humor and fun, and Access 2016 For Dummies is the only resource you'll need to go from data rookie to data pro!

This expanded and updated edition of Access For Dummies covers all of the latest information and features to help data newcomers better understand Access' role in the world of data analysis and data science. Inside, you'll get a crash course on how databases work—and how to build one from the ground up. Plus, you'll find step-by-step guidance on how to structure data to make it useful, manipulate, edit, and import data into your database, write and execute queries to gain insight from your data, and report data in elegant ways.

• Speak the lingo of database builders and create databases that suit your needs
• Organize your data into tables and build forms that ease data entry
• Query your data to get answers right
• Create reports that tell the story of your data findings

If you have little to no experience with creating and managing a database of any sort, Access 2016 For Dummies is the perfect starting point for learning the basics of building databases, simplifying data entry and reporting, and improving your overall data skills.

Part I

Getting Started with Access 2016

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In this part …

• Discover what Access is and does and what’s new in Access 2016.
• Learn about the objects that make up an effective database, and get started building your first table.
• Master database lingo so you can speak the language and understand the terminology.
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Chapter 1

Access 2016 Basic Training

In This Chapter

Deciding when to use Access

Discovering what’s new in Access 2016

Unlocking the basics of working with Access

Figuring out how to get started

Access 2016, the most recent version of the Microsoft Office database application, continues to be a very powerful program. You probably already know that, and perhaps that power is what made you choose Access for managing your data and to also reach for this book. Great decisions so far!

For all of its power, Access is pretty friendly to new users. In fact, with just the basic functionality that you’ll discover in this book, you’ll be able to put Access through many of its most important paces, yet you’ll be working with wizards and other onscreen tools that keep you at a comfortable arm’s distance from the software’s inner workings, the things that programmers and serious developers play with. There. Don’t you feel better now?

You don’t have to use every feature and tool and push the edges of the Access envelope. In fact, you can use very little of everything Access has to offer and still create quite a significant solution to your needs for storing and accessing data — all because Access can really “do it all” — enabling you to set up a database quickly, build records into that database, and then use that data in several useful ways. Later on, who knows? You may become an Access guru.

In this chapter, you’ll discover what Access does best (and when you might want to use another tool instead), and you’ll get a look at what’s new and improved in Access 2016 (compared to Access 2013). You’ll see how it does what it does, and hopefully you’ll begin to understand and absorb some basic terminology.

Now, don’t panic; nobody’s expecting you to memorize tons of complex vocabulary or anything scary like that. The goal here (and in the next two chapters) with regard to terms is to introduce you to some basic words and general concepts intended to help you make better use of Access — as well as better understand later chapters in this book, if you choose to follow us all the way to its stunning, life-altering conclusion.

What Is Access Good For, Anyway?

What is Access good for? That’s a good question. Well, the list of what you can do with it is a lot longer than the list of what you can’t do with it — of course, especially if you leave things like “wash your car” and “put away the dishes” off the “can’t do” list. When it comes to data organization, storage, and retrieval, Access is at the head of the class.

Building big databases

Okay, what do I mean by big database? Any database with a lot of records — and by a lot, I mean hundreds. At least. And certainly if you have thousands of records, you need a tool like Access to manage them. Although you can use Microsoft Excel to store lists of records, it limits how many you can store (no more than the number of rows in a single worksheet). In addition, you can’t use Excel to set up anything beyond a simple list that can be sorted and filtered. So anything with a lot of records and complex data is best done in Access.

Some reasons why Access handles big databases well are

• Typically, a big database has big data-entry needs. Access offers not only forms but also features that can create a quick form through which someone can enter all those records. This can make data entry easier and faster and can reduce the margin of error significantly. (Check out Chapter 8 for more about building forms.)
• When you have lots and lots of records, you also have lots of opportunities for errors to creep in. This includes duplicate records, records with misspellings, and records with missing information — and that’s just for openers. So you need an application such as Access to ferret out those errors and fix them. (Chapter 10 lays out how you can use Access to find and replace errors and search for duplicate entries.)
• Big databases mean big needs for accurate, insightful reporting. Access has powerful reporting tools you can use to create printed and onscreen reports — and those can include as few or as many pieces of your data as you need, drawn from more than one table if need be. You can tailor your reports to your audience, from what’s shown on the reports pages to the colors and fonts used.
• Big databases are hard to wade through when you want to find something. Access provides several tools for sorting, searching, and creating your own specialized tools (known as queries) for finding the elusive single record or group of records you need.
• Access saves time by making it easy to import and recycle data. You may have used certain tools to import data from other sources — such as Excel worksheets (if you started in Excel an...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction
• Part I: Getting Started with Access 2016
• Part II: Getting It All on the Table
• Part III: Data Management Mania
• Part IV: The Power of Questions
• Part V: Simple and Snazzy Reporting
• Part VI: More Power to You
• Part VII: The Part of Tens
• About the Authors
• Cheat Sheet
• Advertisement Page
• Connect with Dummies
• End User License Agreement