The Microsoft Office suite consists of two of the most used programs in the world, in some ways very similar: Access and Excel .
Excel is, at first, more superficial, easier to use and more immediate, with a spreadsheet to be filled with numbers or values that can be automatically accounted for.
Access is instead more complex at the beginning, even if, after having understood the basics, it offers the possibility to create a mask, that is a customizable graphic interface, to insert the values in the cells, which becomes much more comfortable and more user friendly.
Both are work and study programs for data management and one could ask which of the two is better and for which needs it is better to prefer one to the other.
In short, Excel is a data analysis tool, for making mathematical calculations and statistical comparisons to be presented also in the form of easy-to-share graphs.
Access, on the other hand, is a data management program, a real database manager that can be used by several users simultaneously, useful for filtering values, displaying them in a structured way and automating certain operations and events.
Excel excels in the analysis of numerical data .
The learning curve for using Excel is quite short and already learning to use some basic functions such as pivot tables you can immediately perform many operations.
The latest versions are then full of pre-packaged models, only to be completed.
Excel is an excellent tool when there are two or three spreadsheets to use, instead it becomes more uncomfortable if the database size increases.
Maintaining an Excel spreadsheet with thousands, if not tens of thousands of entries becomes really more difficult and with the evolution of data there is the risk of errors in updating formulas, graphs and macros.
In other articles we have seen, about Excel:
- How to use Excel spreadsheets
- 4 operations to be able to do when working with Word and Excel
- Best Excel templates to download for free for financial and commercial operations .
Compared to Excel, which focuses on numerical data and sequences, Access is a true digital archive solution for information that can be recalled several times within the program.
The learning curve for Access is longer, in the sense that to start using it you need to study at least the basics and understand its terminology.
Perhaps the biggest difference between Access and Excel is the data retention method.
Access can be changed at any time and you can add additional information, modify, remove or filter data without having an impact on formulas and tables.
However, when using a massive dataset in Excel, there is a possibility that a small change may ruin the whole table.
Access goes a step further than Excel by using search lists and validation rules for individual table-level fields.
The referential integrity between the tables, that is their link, is constantly maintained by Access which ensures the meaning of every information.
The aggregations of huge databases are relatively simple in Access which allows you to filter individual information immediately, without pivot tables.
On Access, clearly less used than Excel because of its initial complexity, I had written in the past a preliminary guide based on Microsft Access to understand how it works and what it is used for .
There is therefore no better or worse program, both are excellent tools to be used alternately according to the needs and the work that needs to be done and maintained.
Excel makes it easy to generate custom outputs with very flexible formatting and annotations that you can easily add anywhere.
However, if data and relationships need to be maintained over time, spreadsheets can become really limiting so Access comes into play.
A hybrid solution, in which data from an Access database is exported or copied to Excel, is certainly the best.
The programs integrate with each other and it is possible both to import Access data into Excel and, conversely, to fill Access using the already existing Excel tables (see Microsoft guide).
Although Excel is not a database, it is still widely used to store data.
Excel is however a database of single files and not a relational database like Access, where the data of the different tables are linked together and automatically change according to certain events.
When simple tables need to evolve into multiple related data tables, Access is the first choice.
Once the data is in Access, you can add multiple tables and merge them together, create queries or views, define the data structure and types.
There is no doubt that Access is a feature-rich product, although the first impact might seem daunting.
