A great way to store data (MS Office Access 2003)

Member Name: scmk55

Product:	MS Office Access 2003
Date:	03/06/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great storage and retrieval

Disadvantages: So many features, need to know about databases

Access is a very useful and powerful database program in the microsoft office suite. Due to it's complexity many people don't know how to use it. Those that do, are in luck!

The purpose of Access is to store, retrieve, and update data. A user creates tables, and then creates fields in that table to store the data they need. Since Access is a multi-relation database, you can create many tables that link together to make data storage and retrieval easier.

Access has a feature where you can create forms. Forms are visual windows that you can enter the data in to. You create what they look like, where the fields will go, the order you can tab through the fields, as well as other options. This is here to make it easier for the end user to enter data into the database.

You can also write queries in Access. Queries are "questions" that you ask the database. A query is used to retrieve data from the tables. You can return all the fields from a table, or return only the fields based on a specific criteria. This makes it easy to look for a specific record.

There is also a reports feature. Here you can print out reports showing records. This is a good way to present the data all on a few pages.

There are very many features in Access and I only hit the tip of the iceberg. These are the most common features that I use in my databases. There are many many other things you can do with Access, but I find it very useful with what I know.

Summary: A great way to store data

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