Laurie A. Ulrich

Access 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, you can organize data into tables, design forms for editing and reports for presenting, and create queries for finding information!Navigating the Access ribbon with key tipsIf you like keyboard shortcuts when you’re working with software, Access has a Key Tips feature that can help make entering data move more quickly.

A field in Access 2019, you remember, is where your data lives. Each field holds one piece of data, such as Last Name or Batting Average. Because there are so many different kinds of information in the world, Access offers a variety of field types for storing it. In fact, Access puts the following field types at your disposal: Short Text Long Text Number Currency AutoNumber (this data type is applied, by default, to the starting ID field in any new table) Date/Time Yes/No Lookup & Relationship Rich Text Attachment Hyperlink OLE Object Calculated Lookup Wizard The types just listed are those available for fields you create in addition to that first field — the ones that will contain your data.

When you open a Microsoft Access database — be it an existing one or one you’re just starting from a blank database or a template — the workspace changes, offering the Ribbon and its tabs shown here (Home, Create, External Data, and Database Tools). These tabs are not to be confused with the context-sensitive tabs that appear when various database objects (the tables, forms, queries, or reports that make up your database) are created or edited.

If you’re upgrading to Access (or Office) 2019 from the 2013 or 2016 interface, you’ll find it looks very familiar — and you’ll find much of it to be the same as what you’re accustomed to.Let’s start with the File tab, where a vertical list of commands creates context-sensitive changes to the main workspace — essentially everything to the right of that left-hand menu panel.

ScreenTips in Access 2019 are the little names and brief descriptions of onscreen tools that appear when you put your mouse pointer over buttons, commands, menus, and many of the other pieces of the Access workspace.Not all onscreen features have ScreenTips, but for anything you can click to make something happen — as when a dialog box opens, Access performs some task for you, or something is created — these typically have associated ScreenTips that you can choose to view or not view.

When you look at all the applications in Microsoft Office 2019 — Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and of course, Access — you’ll see some features that are consistent throughout the suite. Access has several features in common with the rest of the applications in the Microsoft Office suite. You’ll find the same buttons on several of the tabs, and the Quick Access Toolbar appears in all the applications.

Here are ten of the most common Microsoft Access problems and their solutions. Don’t give up hope if your problem is not on this list. Chances are, if you’re having the problem, someone else has already had it and figured out the solution. That’s why the Internet is a valuable resource. That’s just not normal—normalizing empty Access tables One of the hardest things to do (yet most important when building a database) is building the table structures properly.

Access 2019, the latest version of the Microsoft Office database application, has always been a powerful program, and this version is no different. All that power makes Access an application that’s not so easy to learn on your own. You don’t have to use every feature and tool and push the edges of the Access envelope.