“Blank Form”

If you want more control over the design of your form and you do not wish to use any of the previously mentioned form-making tools, you can start with a “Blank form”.

Select the “Create” tab in the “Ribbon” and click the “Form Design” button or the “Blank Form”.

When you choose “Blank Form”, then it opens in “Display Format”.
Choose “Form Design”, it opens the new form in “Design View”.
I choose the “Form Design” because I don’t need to change the display later.

When we click the “Form Design”, it opens the blank form on the right with a list of fields.

We find rulers at the top and left side of the “Blank form”.
On the right we have a “Field list”.
In the “Form” you have a grid, which helps you align fields.
If this is not seen , right-click on the “Form” and select “Grid”.
Same goes for the rulers. If these are not visible, righ-click the “Form” and choose “Rulers”.
Both are toggle buttons, so to hide them, repeat these actions.
The first thing we do is to determine the data source for the fields that we want to add to our “Form”.
Click the “Design” contextual tab and click the “Properties Window” button.
In the upper section of the “Properties window”, select “Form”.

The “Properties window” is divided into five tabs.
Click the “All” tab and click the downward pointing arrow next to the “Record Source” box.
In the drop-down list you will see all available tables and queries from your database.

For example, select the “Customers” table and click the “Add Existing Fields” button in the “Ribbon”.
This opens the “Field List” panel where, the “Customers” table is selected.

We can add a field to the “Form” in different ways.
One way is to double-click in the list.
A second way is to click in the list and drag it into the form.
A third way is to select the field in the list and press the ENTER key on your keyboard.

Through the options in the “Design” and “Arrange” contextual tabs, you can set the formatting and alignment of the various fields.
Each field has a “Label” and a “Control Source”.
If you wish to move them together, place the mouse pointer over the edge of the selected field and when it changes into a four-arrow, click and drag it to the desired location.

If you want to move only one of the two, or the “Label Control”, then click the box at the top left of the field.
If you want to delete a field from the “Form”, select its “Control” and click the “Delete” button on your keyboard.
If you want to remove only the “Label Control”, select it and click the “Delete” button on your keyboard.

If you wish to change the width or height of the “Form”, place the mouse pointer over the edge, when it changes into a four-arrow, click and drag it until you’ve reached the desired size.

When you have inserted all the fields in the “Form”, click the “Save” button in the “Quick Access” toolbar, and give the “Form” a name and click the OK button.

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