Reduce stress with timesaving database shortcuts

Explore database basics and build tables and reports that corral your data

Access has undergone an extreme makeover! Whether you've used one of the older versions or this is your first exposure to Access, here's where you'll find the essentials you need to make this database system work for you. Cruise around the new interface, team up Access with other Office applications, use wizards to automate your work, and much more.

Discover how to

Create a new Access databaseImport and export dataBuild forms for efficient data entrySearch tables for specific dataConstruct custom reportsCustomize your database navigation

Laurie Ulrich Fuller has been writing about and teaching people to use Microsoft Office since the 1980s. Her teaching career goes back to the time before Microsoft Windows which means she also remembers the first time she taught people to use a Windows-based application, and a student picked up the mouse and aimed it at the computer screen as though using a TV remote. Nobody laughed (except Laurie, after class), because everyone was new to the mouse back then. As new as the mouse was, so was the idea of keeping a database on a computer that could fit on your desk and Lauries been there through every new version of Access as Office has evolved to meet the needs of users from all walks of life from individuals to huge corporations, from growing business to non-profit organizations. Since those early days of Office and Windows, Laurie has personally trained more than 10,000 people to make better, more creative use of their computers, has written and co-written more than 25 nationally-published books on computers and software including several titles on Microsoft Office. In the last few years, shes also created two video training courses one on Word 2003, and the other on the entire Office 2003 suite. She runs her own company, Limehat& Company, offering training, educational materials, and web development services. She invites you to contact her at laurie@limehat.com, and to visit her personal website, www.planetlaurie.com, for more information. Laurie would also like you to know that despite being able to remember the world before Windows, she does not remember a time before cars, television, or fire.

Ken Cook has built and managed a successful computer consulting business since 1990 serving clients in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and California. He began as a trainer - training numerous users (too many to count!) on a variety of software packages specializing in Microsoft Office. Currently, he dabbles in training but his main focus is creating expert Microsoft Office solutions and Microsoft Access database solutions for Fortune 500 and small business clients. He can be contacted through his Web site www.kcookpcbiz.com or email: ken@kcookpcbiz.com.

John Kaufeld is a popularFor Dummies author.

Introduction 1

Part I: Basic Training 7

Chapter 1: Getting to Know Access 2007 9

Chapter 2: Finding Your Way Around Access 29

Chapter 3: Database Basics 51

Part II: Getting It All on the Table 69

Chapter 4: Keys, Relationships, and Indexes 71

Chapter 5: Remodeling Your Data 87

Chapter 6: Whats Happening Under the Table? 103

Part III: Data Mania and Management 127

Chapter 7: Creating Data Forms 129

Chapter 8: Importing and Exporting Data 143

Chapter 9: Automatically Editing Data 155

Chapter 10: Gather Locally, Share Globally 167

Part IV: Ask Your Data, and Ye Shall Receive Answers 181

Chapter 11: Fast Finding, Filtering, and Sorting Data 183

Chapter 12: I Was Just Asking . . . For Answers 199

Chapter 13: Ill Take These AND Those OR Them 227

Chapter 14: Queries That Think Faster Than You 237

Chapter 15: Calculating with Your Data 251

Part V: Plain and Fancy Reporting 265

Chapter 16: Quick and Not-So-Dirty Automatic Reporting 267

Chapter 17: Dazzling Report Design 289

Chapter 18: Headers and Footers and Groups, Oh My! 315

Chapter 19: Magical Mass Mailings 335

Part VI: More Power to You 341

Chapter 20: Making It All Better with the Analyzer Tools 343

Chapter 21: Hello! Creating an Interface to Welcome Data Users 353

Part VII: The Part of Tens 365

Chapter 22: Ten Common Problems 367

Chapter 23: Ten Uncommon Tips 377

Appendix: Getting Help 383

Index 391