www.learnaccessnow.com Tutorials

Printing Your Table
Many computer users don't give much thought to what happens after they get their information in a database. Very often, getting information into a database is only half the story-you also need to worry about printing out information so you can share your data with others. In this tutorial, you will learn how you print the information contained in your database. You will learn concepts that apply whether you are printing a simple table or a complex report. However, this tutorial is only the start.

Creating Complex Reports
Learn index: how to display the report Design window, how the report Design window relates to other Design windows, what the different sections of a report are, what report properties mean and how you use them, how to design each section of your report, how to group data in your report, how to view your report as you design, how to save your report within your database.

Taking a Closer Look
By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: how to change an existing table's structure, the data types that Access supports, why you should add comments to your table design, what field properties are and how you can change them, how to perform editing functions on entire tables.

Importing and Exporting Information
One of the marks of a good neighbor is a willingness to cooperate with those around you. Access is a good neighbor--using Access import and export capabilities, you can easily share information with virtually any other program you can think of. In this tutorial, you will learn how to use those capabilities. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: what data importing is, what types of files Access can import, how to import a file, what data exporting is, what types of files Access can export and how to export a database object.

Access in an Hour
Access is a powerful, flexible, easy-to-use, database-management program. In this tutorial, you will start to tap into Access capabilities. Although the title of this tutorial, "Access in an Hour," is an overworked phrase, you really will learn quickly how to use Access. Granted, an hour won't be enough time to master the advanced features. But it will be enough time for you to learn the basics behind the program and to create your own database that you can put to immediate use.

Using Queries to Examine Your Data
Learn about another, more powerful tool provided by Access--queries. Like filters, Access queries let you select specific data from your table. However, queries are much more powerful than filters. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: what queries are, what types of queries Access lets you create, how Access stores queries, how to use the Query Wizards, how to design your own queries, how to use the QBE grid and how to set properties in a query.

Understanding Data Relationships
Access is not restricted, however, in how you can organize your data. It also lets you set up relational databases. In this tutorial, you will learn what a relational database is and how to create one in Access. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: what a relational database is, how information in tables can be related, why keys are important in a relational environment, how to create a relationship between two tables and what referential integrity means.

Using OLE
Learn how Access can work with other programs in a different way--by letting you link or embed information within a table. In short, this tutorial teaches you how to take advantage of OLE, object linking and embedding, from within Access. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: what OLE is and how it works, what types of objects you can use with Access, how to insert objects in your table, how to modify links between Access and other programs and how to edit objects you have linked to Access.

Getting Started with Access
Access provides a powerful yet comfortable environment in which you can manage your information. Using Access, you can tame even the most difficult data-management tasks. This tutorial is the first step in your journey. Here you will learn basic terms, as well as how to start and exit Access. You will also learn how to get help and even catch a glimpse of what you can do with Access.

Using Visual Basic for Applications
As you work with Access, there may be times when you can't write a macro that's capable of performing the operations you need. In such cases, you can turn to Visual Basic for Applications, a programming language that's built into Access. In short, using Visual Basic for Applications, you specify a list of instructions you want Access to perform. By the time you finish this chapter, you will understand the following key concepts: what Visual Basic for Applications is, how Access uses procedures, functions, and subroutines, the parts of a Visual Basic for Applications program, how to use statements, variables, operators, and functions within your program, how to address database objects in Visual Basic for Applications, how to use the VBA Editor, how to develop a Visual Basic for Applications procedure, how to test your procedures and how to use a procedure from an Access form.

Putting It All Together
In this tutorial, all that information will be brought together, in one place, as you review the design and implementation of a full-fledged database system. Learn about database Design, forms in the Database, queries in the Database, reports in the Database, VBA Procedures and Improvements You Could Make.

Using Additional Tools
In many ways, Access is more than just a plain database manager. One of the biggest evidences of this is the additional tools that Microsoft chose to include with Access. These tools are not necessarily related to making your data easier to use, but to making it easier to create. Thus, the tools can be viewed as helping you improve the validity of your data by making it more correct than it would be without the use of the tools. By the time you finish this chapter, you will understand the following key concepts: how to use Access' built-in spell checker, how the AutoCorrect feature can make inputting data faster, why analyzing a table may result in more efficient databases and how to use the Performance Analyzer tool.

Ensuring Data Security
As you work with Access, over time you invest quite a bit into your databases. You develop forms, reports, and queries that allow you to manage your data just as you desire. These efforts take time. You validate your data and make sure that it is correct and that all redundancy is removed. These efforts take more time. In addition, the data itself takes time and money to acquire. The result is that at some time you are going to realize that your data has value--real value--to your company. At some point you are going to be faced with the necessity of safeguarding your database. Fortunately, Access includes some security features you can use to heighten the security of your data. In this tutorial, you learn how to use those features.

Creating and Using Macros
As you work more with Access, you will discover many ways you can tailor your Access environment to your needs. One of the ways Access lets you simplify tasks is with macros. In short, a macro is a recording of the steps you perform to accomplish a specific task. For example, to print a table, you select the File menu Print option and then choose OK within the Print dialog box. Using an Access macro, you record these steps. Later, you can play back your macro and Access will automatically perform the steps for you. As you will learn, you can write macros that perform simple or complex tasks.

Working with Dialog Boxes and Menus
You can create your own dialog boxes and menus. Using the tools presented in this tutorial, you will make your macros behave very much like Access itself--using menus and dialog boxes to improve the user's interface. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: how to use message boxes, how to design dialog boxes, how to create a switchboard menu and how to add custom menus to your forms and reports.

Using Web Features
A couple of years ago Microsoft made a big push to provide Internet features for all of their products. Access is no exception; it includes several features which provide close ties with the Internet and the World Wide Web, in particular. Like several other Microsoft products, Access now has close ties to the Internet. In this tutorial you will learn how to take advantage of the majority of Access's Web-specific features. Here you learn the following: what the Web is and how it works, how to use hyperlinks in your databases, how to create Web pages in Access and how to conduct a Net meeting.

Creating Custom Forms
In this lesson, you will learn how to use Access forms for data input and editing. Forms let you go one giant step beyond regular data entry. In short, forms provide custom interfaces that let you work with data in the most natural way. For example, if you are working with an employee database, you can create a form that matches an employee record. Depending on your company, you may have several different departments that use employee records. Using Access forms, you can create a custom interface for each department. Each department's form, in turn, will present only those fields that employees in that department need to use.

Sorting and Filtering Information
To let you quickly manipulate information in a table and display it in a more organized fashion, Access provides two special tools: sorting and filtering. Using these tools, you can work with your information in whatever way makes sense to you. This tutorial will explain how sorting and filtering work, as well as how you use these tools to work with your data.

Creating Another Database
Read this tutorial you will understand the following key concepts: how to create a database, how to design your own table, how to layout your table using the Design view window and how to test your table layout.

Creating Simple Reports
You will build upon that knowledge to create an actual report. In the simplest sense, a report is a formatted output of your data. Using reports, you can select the fields you want Access to print, as well as their formats. By the time you finish this tutorial, you will understand the following key concepts: what a report is, ways to create reports, how to start the Report Wizards, the types of reports you can create with the Report Wizards, how to create a simple tabular report, how to create mailing labels.