Books and Articles by Alison Barrows

Access 2013 makes managing your data easy, combining a visual interface with the power of a relational database. Discover how to organize data into tables, design forms and reports for editing and presenting information, and create queries for selecting and combining information. The next steps are writing macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) scripts to make your database smart, and using SharePoint to publish data to the web.

If the data that goes into your database through tables and forms is garbage, any output or analysis you do with queries and reports will give you garbage too. Fortunately, Access offers lots of tools to help you make sure that the data that goes in each field is the data that’s supposed to go in that field. You can find many of the tools that keep garbage out in Table Design view: Data Type: Use the correct data type to prevent data of the wrong type from being entered.

When you use a database program like Access 2013, you can’t just start entering data. Instead, you need to create a relational database design, dividing your information into one or more tables, each made up of fields (which are like the columns in a spreadsheet). Tables are connected by relational joins, in which a field in one table matches (relates to) a field in another.

When you’re automating an Access 2013 database application by using Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), you can get lost with a blank page to begin writing code. Where do you start? Here are a few simple guidelines to follow that will have you writing VBA code like a pro: Get help. Press F1 at any time to start Microsoft Access help, where you can see examples of VBA code.

When you design a database in Access 2013, you decide what type each field will be. Access provides 12 field types for you to choose among. Choose the field type that best describes the data you want to store in the field and that works for the type of analysis you need to use the field. Here are tips on when to use which type of field.

Access 2013 is a great database application on its own, but it also plays well with others, allowing you to display and retrieve data from several other programs. If a program supports Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), you can control it from Access. Here’s a brief list of applications that you can take control of and share data with: Microsoft Excel: Many users of Excel end up getting involved with Access because they need more structure for storing their data.

Here are the Five Commandments of database design, whether you use Access 2013 or another database program. A well-designed database makes maintaining your data easier. Store information where it belongs, not where it appears. Where you store information has nothing to do with where it appears. In a spreadsheet, you type information where you want it to appear when you print the spreadsheet, but databases work differently.

Some people would rather use the keyboard than the mouse, and Access 2013 has plenty of keyboard shortcuts for those people. The following keyboard shortcuts are especially useful in Access 2013. Some keystrokes work anywhere in Access 2013; others work only in specific views, as noted. Key Combination Action F1 Displays the Help window Ctrl+F1 Hides or displays the Ribbon F5 Goes to the record with the record number you type F6 Moves the focus to another area of the window F7 Checks the spelling in the selected object F11 Hides or displays the Navigation Pane Del Deletes the selected object Alt+Enter In Design view, displays the properties of the selected object Ctrl+C Copies the selected text or objects to the clipboard Ctrl+F Finds text (with the option to replace it) in the open table, query, or form Ctrl+N Starts a new database Ctrl+O Opens a database Ctrl+P Prints the selected object Ctrl+S Saves the selected object Ctrl+V Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the active window Ctrl+X Deletes the selected text or object and saves it in the clipboard Ctrl+Z Undoes the last action that can be undone (our all-time favorite!

When an Access 2013 database form is open, you can use VBA code to change the contents and even the appearance of the form, from the big picture down to the individual controls. Suppose that you have a form that includes a control for choosing a payment method. When the user chooses a payment method, you want to enable or disable other controls on the form based on the selected payment method.