Working with Objects

The names “Table” and “Database” are often confusing but, when we work with “Access”, we have a database and we have “Tables”, “Queries”, “Forms”, “Reports”, “Macros” and “Modules” in a “Database”.

A “Table” is a collection of data about a particular entity or subject, such as customers or suppliers, and is divided into rows and colums. The data from an entire row, such as name, address, is called a “Record”.

In “Access”, you can use different objects from a “Database”, but you can only open one “Database” at a time. In order to open a second “Database”, the first “Database” will have to be closed.

If you do not find the different object types in your “Navigation Panel”, click the downward pointing arrow next to the “All Access Objects” and select “Object Type” in the drop-down menu. Repeat this again and click next to the “All Access Objects” in the drop-down menu to make sure that all objects are displayed. Later you only need to do this if this option has not been checked in the drop-down list. If there are no objects of a certain ‘Object type”, then this ‘Object Type’ is not displayed in the “Navigation Panel”.

Backstage view

The “Backstage” view is new in “Access” 2010. “Backstage” view contains commands that you use to do things with a “Database”, while the commands in the “Ribbon” are to do things within a “Database”.

Clicking on the “File” tab in the menu bar, which replaces the “Office” button in “Access” 2007, brings you to the “Backstage” view. When this tab is clicked, the “Backstage” view is shown in the whole “Application Window”.

At the top left column, we have five buttons:

“Save”: click when you need to save the “Database”
“Save Object as”: click when you have to save a duplicate of the object.
“Database save as”: click when you have to save a duplicate of the “Database”.
“Open”: click when you want to open another “Database”.
“Close Database”: click when you want to close the “Database” you have opened.

Under the recently used “Databases”, we find the “Info” tab. When a “Database” is open and you click the “File” tab, then the “Info” tab is selected by default in the “Backstage” view. The information in “Info” tab is dependent on the “Database” that is open. This information is displayed on the right side, along with a number of options in the middle.

Under the “Info” tab, we find the “Recent” tab, as seen in a previous lesson.

Under the “Recent” tab, we find the “New” tab, as also seen in a previous lesson.

The “Print” tab includes all print options.

“Quick Print” will print the object immediately, without opening a dialog box.

“Print” will open dialog box where you can set the number of copies you want to print.

“Print Preview” will show you a preview of how the object will be printed and will give you a few options where you can change the orientation and margin settings.

The “Save & Publish” tab allows us to store the “Database” under a different format, plus some other options which we will discuss later.

The “Help” allows you to search for information and helps to solve questions you may have about using the program. The “Exit” button closes the “Access” application and we will discuss the “Options” tab in a later lesson.

 

Featured Courses

• Downloading iPad Apps
• Lesson 1: Introduction to Publisher
• Lesson 65: File Formats