Getting to Know Microsoft Access 2003, Part 4
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In this lesson we’ll cover some basic but important concepts: entering data, working with data, navigation, making data entry more efficient, and changing the appearance of your tables’ datasheet views.
Entering and Working with Data
The easiest way to enter new data is to simply click the New Record toolbar button and start entering data into the record.
Alternatively you may use the Records | Data Entry menu option. This option opens a blank datasheet screen allowing you to enter new records without having to see all the records you have already entered.
When entering data you might also want to use the zoom tool. Press SHIFT-F2 to zoom in on any field you are currently working on; you’ll get a larger view of the field, with more room for input. This is especially useful when used with fields of memo data types.
Copying and pasting data is important in Access. You can copy and move large (or small) chunks of data between Office applications or within an Access table or tables. The clipboard is a useful tool for doing this. When you copy or cut an item in Access it goes to the clipboard – an area used by all Office applications. The clipboard can hold up to 24 items at any one time. Right-click to open the Clipboard to see all the items you have copied or cut recently. To paste any of these items to the datasheet at any time just insert your cursor where you wish to paste the data and select the clipboard item you wish to paste from the list; it will be pasted in the specified location.
You can also insert data other than text into your tables. For example you can enter OLE objects such as pictures, sounds, charts, videos, or hyperlinks. Your objects can be linked to an Access table or embedded within it. Both of these choices have advantages and disadvantages. When you link an object, the object remains in its source application; Access merely points to it. Using linking, your Access databases will not become much larger (which is good) but you will be required to restore links to the OLE objects whenever you move the database (annoying). When embedding objects, Access stores a copy of the object in the database and the object becomes portable with the database (good); of course it also makes the database file larger (bad).
A hyperlink, in Access, is an address that can contain up to four parts separated by the # sign as in the following:
Texttodisplay#address#subaddress#screentip
To enter a new hyperlink address into your table, place your cursor where you want to enter the hyperlink and choose the Insert | Hyperlink menu command. To edit or delete a hyperlink you must right-click the link and click Edit Hyperlink or Remove Hyperlink respectively from the menu.
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