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Published:
November 2, 2015

Access 2016 For Dummies

Overview

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.

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About The Author

Laurie Ulrich Fuller is a professional technology author and trainer. She's created training materials that cover Microsoft Office and Adobe Creative Suite. Ken Cook is a professional database developer, instructor, and author. The two experts have teamed to write the previous three editions of Access For Dummies.

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access 2016 for dummies

CHEAT SHEET

Access 2016 makes managing data easy, enabling you to set up a database quickly, enter records into that database, and then use the data however you like. With Access 2016, you can organize data into tables, design forms for editing and reports for presenting, and create queries for finding information!Navigating the Access 2016 Ribbon with Key TipsIf you like keyboard shortcuts when you’re working with software, Access 2016 has a Key Tips feature that can help make entering data move more quickly.

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Relationships between fields, tables, records, and so on, are the most common things you deal with in Access 2016. Keep these ten tips in mind: A one-to-many relationship connects one record in the parent table to many records in the child table. Set the relationship to connect orders to customers or locations to events.
Access 2016 makes managing data easy, enabling you to set up a database quickly, enter records into that database, and then use the data however you like. With Access 2016, you can organize data into tables, design forms for editing and reports for presenting, and create queries for finding information!Navigating the Access 2016 Ribbon with Key TipsIf you like keyboard shortcuts when you’re working with software, Access 2016 has a Key Tips feature that can help make entering data move more quickly.
The following keyboard shortcuts are especially useful in Access 2016. Some keystrokes work anywhere in Access 2016, whereas others work only in specific views, as noted below. Keystroke Function F1 Opens the Help window. Alt+F Opens the File tab. Ctrl+N Creates a new blank database. Ctrl+O Opens an existing database.
Access 2016 provides a handy list of table designs for you to choose from if you’re starting your web app from scratch. Here are the simple steps for adding a table: Click Table from the Create group on the Home tab of the Ribbon if necessary (you’ll be here by default after creating a new web app). Type a keyword in the search box that represents the type of data to go into your table.
Luckily, adding a forgotten record or field to your table in Access 2016 is about as easy as making a quick trip to the drugstore for that forgotten toothpaste — so easy that you may forget to say “Darn!” (or any other word expressing regret) when you discover a missing field. To add a record, follow these steps: In the Datasheet view of the table that’s missing a record, click inside the first empty cell at the bottom of the table — below the last displayed record in the table.
Once you’ve launched your web app, List and Datasheet views give you two different ways to add a new record in Access 2016. List view is best if your table contains many fields and you don’t like scrolling. Datasheet view, as you can probably guess, is best if your table contains a small number of fields (generally, less than fifteen) and you do like scrolling!
Access 2016 provides a handy field type specifically designed for dealing with the special data that are hyperlinks. As you probably guessed, this type is called the Hyperlink field. Adding a Hyperlink field to your desktop database table Adding a Hyperlink field to a table doesn’t require special steps. Just use the same steps for adding any field to a table — get to Design view for your table and use the Data Type column to choose the Hyperlink data type.
Nobody’s expecting perfection at this stage of the game. Certainly not in your first foray into database creation in Access 2016, and not even on your second or third attempt. Even seasoned experts forget things now and then, realizing after they’ve built a table that they didn’t need it, or after they’ve started setting up reports and queries that they’ve forgotten a table that they needed.
Relational databases split data among two or more tables. Access 2016 uses a linking field, called a foreign key, to tie related tables together. For example, one table may contain volunteer names and addresses, whereas another table tracks the volunteer event participation history. The event participation information is tied to the volunteer information with a linking field, which (in this example) is probably a Volunteer ID.
Ready to get started building database tables in Access 2016? Well, once you have gotten yourself organized, you can build your tables. Just follow these simple steps to dive in and build your table: Click the Create tab on the Ribbon. Click the Table Design button in the Tables group. A new table appears in Design view ready for your new fields.
So you want to dive in and start building a database in Access 2016? Keep in mind that it’s a good idea to take it slowly. In the following procedure, you set up a new database and then use the Table Wizard to build the first table in the database. If Access is not already running, take a moment to start it. In the Access workspace, a series of large template icons appears, below a Search for Online Templates box, accompanied by links to likely searches for templates that store Assets, Business, Contacts, Employee, and so on.
You can host your Access web app on a local SharePoint site or on an Office 365 SharePoint site in the cloud. If you’re using SharePoint locally, make sure you have administrative rights and the URL to the SharePoint site. To begin, connect Access 2016 to your Office 365 account. Click Sign in to get the most out of Office near the right end of the screen.
Access 2016 provides several layouts for Navigation forms; which one you choose depends on what you need done. A Navigation form helps end users open forms and run reports in a database without needing a lot of Access knowledge. Here's how you build a Navigation form: Open the database file that will contain the Navigation form and click the Create tab on the Ribbon.
You can create a web app in Access 2016. So what is a web app anyway? Well, web means it’s online, and app is just shorthand for “application.” A Custom Web App is an online database application accessed from the cloud using a browser. You build and maintain the web app in the desktop version of Access but use it in a browser.
The basic query tool in Access 2016, created to make your life easier, is the Select query — so named because it selects matching records from your database and displays the results according to your instructions. The best process for creating a Select query depends on the following: If you’re new to writing queries, the Query Wizard is a fast, easy way to get started.
When you open Access 2016, the workspace offers you a list of recently opened databases, along with templates you can use to start a new database. To open a database from the Recent Databases list, just point to it and click once. If you remember where your database is stored, but it isn’t in the Recent list, use either of the following options to use the Open view:Click the File tab to the left of the Home tab, and choose Open Other Files from the list of commands.
There are many options for dealing with your Access Web App. Access 2016 makes it easy to makes changes, edit a record, and delete a record. It’s easy. Let’s get started! Editing a record Once you’ve launched your web app, List and Datasheet views give you two different ways to edit data. List view has a filter feature, making it easy to find a record.
Every Access 2016 object can be exported; the most common export tasks are exporting data in a table or query to another program (such as a spreadsheet) and exporting a report as a Portable Document Format (commonly known as a PDF). Exporting a table or query involves reorganizing the data it contains into a different format.
Sometimes you need to see a group of records that shares a common value in one field in Access. Perhaps they all list a particular city, a certain job title, or they’re all products that have the same cost. Always willing to help, Access includes a special tool for this very purpose: the Filter command. Filter uses your criteria and displays all matching records, creating a mini-table of only the records that meet your requirements.
When you want to track down a particular record right now, creating a query for the job is overkill. Fortunately, Access 2016 has a very simple way to find one specific piece of data in your project’s tables and forms: the Find command. Find is found — big surprise here — in the Find section of the Home tab, accompanied by a binoculars icon.
Access 2016 gives you many options for creating forms. Like reports and queries, forms are named and stored in the database file. Forms are full-fledged Access objects, so you can customize them easily to meet the needs of your business. Depending on your needs, you can create forms in three ways: The Form tools make attractive forms with a click of the mouse.
Access has some great wizards that make the importing process easy. Here are the steps for importing or linking data sources to your Access database: Open the Access database that will hold the imported data and click the External Data tab on the Ribbon. The Import & Link group of buttons appears on the Ribbon.
If you want the database in which you’re placing the data to replace the source in Access 2016, then import. This is the option for you if you’re creating an Access database to replace an old spreadsheet that no longer meets your needs. Also import if the source data is supplied by an outside vendor in a format other than an Access format.
Adding a forgotten field to your table in Access 2016 is as easy as stopping by the store to pick up forgotten milk. No need for angry words. With the field-challenged table open, calmly follow these steps to add the field you’re missing:In Datasheet view, find the field heading aptly called Click to Add.The column is typically placed at the end of your existing fields — so be prepared to scroll all the way to the end to see it.
With Access' Query Wizard, you enter table and field information, and the Simple Query Wizard takes care of the rest. Here's how you create a query: On a piece of paper, lay out the data you want in your query results. A query returns a datasheet (column headings followed by rows of data), so make your layout in that format.
If you want to build a table relationship in Access 2016, you must first open the Relationships window. You do that by following these steps: Click the Database Tools tab on the Ribbon. The Relationships group appears on the Ribbon. From the Relationships group, click the Relationships button. The Relationships window appears along with the Show Table dialog box.
Very few Access databases are organized into nice, convenient alphabetical lists. You don’t enter your records alphabetically; you enter them in the order they come to you. So what do you do when you need a list of products in product-number order or a list of addresses in zip code order right now? Sorting by a single field The solution lies in the sort commands, which are incredibly easy to use.
The Report Wizard requires a few more decisions from you than the Report tool, but it's more flexible than the instant Report tool. Here it goes: In your database window, click the Ribbon's Create tab and then click the Report Wizard button. (It's right there in the tab's Reports section.) The Report Wizard dialog box appears, listing all the fields in the active table.
Access 2016 gives you the ability to upload a data table from an existing source such as an Access desktop database, an Excel spreadsheet, or text file. Follow these steps to upload an existing Access table. Steps for other file formats are similar. Click Table from the Create group on the Home tab of the Ribbon if necessary.
Doesn’t this sound great? The Access Table Analyzer promises to take a messy flat-file table (such as an imported spreadsheet) — with all its repetitive data — and convert it to an efficient set of relational tables. But, as the saying goes, promises made are promises broken. Unless your flat file follows some strict rules, the Table Analyzer won’t quite get it right.
If you’re fresh from using a pre-2007 version of Office (XP and previous), you’ll be relieved to see a File tab in Access 2016. Office 2007 users lost that familiar word in that version’s interface, replaced then by an Office button, with no comforting word “File” on it. The word File came back in 2010, however, displaying Backstage view, for opening files, saving files, starting new files, printing, and customizing Access through the Options command.
If you don’t need your data to sit in the cloud via an Access web app, you can connect your desktop database to the outside world. The term hyperlink is probably quite familiar — it’s the text or pictures that serve as jumping-off points to other data. Click a hyperlink, and you go to another web page. Click an image that’s set up as a hyperlink (your mouse pointer turns to a pointing finger), and you go to a larger version of the image — or to another website where information pertaining to the subject of the image can be found.
If you like keyboard shortcuts when you're working with software, Access 2016 has a Key Tips feature that can help make entering data move more quickly. The following section describes how to use it: Press the Alt key. When you want to switch tabs and issue commands with the keyboard in Access 2016 (rather than with the mouse), press the Alt key.
For users of Access 2007, 2010, or 2013, the upgrade to 2016 won’t seem like a big deal, other than the changes to the fonts used on the ribbons, the change to a white background for the ribbons, database tabs, and the All Access Objects panel on the left side of the workspace — but these are purely cosmetic changes.
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