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Microsoft Office Access 2007 QuickSteps

Access 2007 Bible

Microsoft Office Access 2007 Inside Out

Microsoft Office Access 2007 Step by Step

Access Data Analysis Cookbook

Got data?

Access 2007, the newest version of Microsoft’s Access database software, helps you create powerful, user-friendly systems for storing, manipulating, and displaying vast amounts of information. Manage all of your data by learning to:

Understand and navigate the new Access interface
Design Access databases that are easy for you and others to use
Build Access tables, queries, forms, and reports

The Access 2007 Interface

Along with the other programs in the Microsoft Office® suite, Microsoft Access® has been significantly revamped. With Access 2007, Microsoft has made the user interface more powerful and yet also simpler to operate. The Access 2007 interface has five basic parts:

Office button
Ribbon
Quick Access Toolbar
Help button
Access work area

The Office Button

The Office button is a round button with the Microsoft Office® insignia on it. Clicking it reveals commands that resided in the File menu in earlier versions of Access.

The Ribbon

The Ribbon is the core of the new Access interface. It replaces the drop-down menus and toolbars of previous versions of Access and organizes and displays the many Access commands visually. The Ribbon makes it easier for you to find and use the commands you need in order to work with your Access databases. The Ribbon is made up of tabs and groups.

Tabs

Tabs are the main organizational categories for Access functions. When you click on a tab, the functions within that tab appear on the Ribbon. Access 2007 has four main tabs:

Home: Features many of the most popular Access commands, such as changing the overall Access view, modifying the appearance of text within database records, and creating new database records
Create: Commands for creating database tables and forms and for generating reports based on your data
External Data: Commands for importing data into a database from existing sources (such as Microsoft Excel® spreadsheets), exporting data to other file formats, collecting data via email, and publishing databases onto a Microsoft SharePoint® server
Database Tools: Commands for managing existing databases and analyzing the data they contain

Contextual Tabs

Some tabs in the Ribbon appear only in certain contexts, such as once you’ve clicked on a specific command in one of the four standard Ribbon tabs. These tabs are known as contextual tabs. For instance, when you click on the Table icon

in the Create tab, a contextual tab called Datasheet will appear in the Ribbon that provides various commands for entering and managing table data.

Groups

The functions displayed within each tab are further organized into smaller groups. For instance, the Create tab has the groups Tables, Forms, Reports, and Other. Some groups have a little square at their bottom right, called a dialog box launcher (or launcher for short). Clicking the launcher pops up a dialog box that gives you access to more commands in the category that the group covers.

Quick Access Toolbar

The Quick Access Toolbar spans the top of the Access window and contains the commands you use most often, such as Save, Undo, and Redo. It’s visible no matter what tab you’ve selected. You can customize the commands that appear on the toolbar by selecting a command from the menu that appears when you click on the down arrow

at the toolbar’s right.

Help

You can display Access’s built-in help system through the Help button

or by pressing F1 on your keyboard.

The Access Work Area

The Access 2007 work area is the main part of the Access user interface, in which you create database objects and enter data. Access 2007’s interface works a bit differently from that of previous versions. It has three main parts:

Navigation pane: The Navigation pane lets you access the various components of your database in order to enter or edit data or perform other commands. If you don’t see the Navigation pane right away, it might be minimized (hidden). To view it, click on the words “Navigation pane” shown vertically at the far left side of the Access work area. For more on the Navigation pane, see How to Navigate Access Datasheets.
Document pane: The portion of the work area below the Ribbon and to the right of the Navigation pane. You can use the document pane to enter data into tables, create forms, build queries, view reports, and so on.
Document tabs: Clicking on these tabs lets you switch among open objects in a database instantly.

Acknowledgments

Next:
Keyboard Shortcuts in Access 2007

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