To understand how Microsoft Access works and what it is, you must also understand the concept of database. Access is one of the main programs of the Microsoft Office suite, therefore, who has Word, Excel and Powerpoint, surely also has Access even if he has never used it.
The problem with Access is that when you open it, you don't understand what to do.
While Excel is quite clear at first glance, Access instead opens empty and even if you can start working with one of the preset models, you are displaced by its diversity compared to other Office software.
Microsoft Access 2007 or 2010 is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance, for some it is even easier than Excel, only that it must be used for a specific purpose and requires some preliminary preparation.
Creating a database means creating a data record, that is, a series of tables, perhaps linked together, which can be a list of people, products, objects, sums of money and so on.
In fact, Access allows you to create your own personalized program for managing these data, to insert them quickly and to be able to process, filter and study them easily.
Unable to explain how Access is used in a single article; on this program with infinite possibilities, more or less complex manuals have been written.
This short preliminary post is only intended to point out that with Access you can also manage the tables of a restaurant, the rooms of a hotel or even the expenses of your business, the invoices issued or received, the books of a library, the list of CDs and any other type of data.
Learning Access at home might initially be a tedious job but, I can assure you, that understanding Access can bring large job opportunities (not many people are good at Access) and can facilitate any activity to be done on the computer.
Microsoft Access is a RDBMS ( Relational Database Management System ), that is a relational database, in which the data are linked together by dependency relationships .
It is not ideal for large databases that require different programs but it is the easiest database software, free (in the sense that it is included with Excel Word and Powerpoint) and also works well with 10 simultaneous users.
The main difference with Excel is that in the Access tables you have to enter raw data and not mathematical calculations as happens in Excel.
Then try to open Access from the Windows Start menu and create a new empty database by giving it a name.
In Access, the structural changes must be saved but the data is automatically saved when they are entered.
The first thing to do is to create a table, a basic element that works like a normal spreadsheet where, however, it is important not so much to insert the data as to specify the columns.
Right-clicking you access the table structure where you can specify the properties of each field.
Each table must have a primary key which can be the normal counter or another incremental numeric value, with duplicates not allowed.
Planning requires creating as many tables for how many different elements there are .
For example, if you want to organize your own library of books, you can create a table with the titles, one for the authors, one for the categories and one with the years of publication.
Separating the various elements, keeping in mind that they can be connected, will then allow you to create much more flexible filters or queries.
Access tables can be linked together, linking the values of one column with those of another table.
You can then create a general table that summarizes the relationships between the elements.
The real list of books records the "Research" values of the other tables, linking to each title, an author, the year and the specific category.
It is not from the table view that the fields should be filled: unlike Excel, you can create a mask that becomes the interface of the created program.
A mask is a window designed in a personalized way, where the fields to be filled in for a quick insertion appear.
Returning to the example of the books, you can create a mask to insert a new title, and then its author, the year and the category, choosing these values from the list already created or inserting a new name in other connected masks).
After creating some tables, you can create queries or filters to extract particular values from the various tables .
In Access there is a wizard for creating queries that would otherwise be difficult to understand.
The reports are static sheets in which it is possible to draw the sums of the data inserted in the tables, to see graphs or summary pages also to be published on a website.
Macros and modules are the most complex part of Access, where it is possible to set automatisms between the values so as to make insertion even faster, to integrate Access with other programs and to give greater rigidity to the database, by imposing rules.
What is important to understand about an Access database is the way the program thinks: the tables are the database, you have to create many tables for each type of record that can then be aggregated together, filtered with queries and inserted by masks .
To learn Access it would be better to download an illustrated and interactive course.
Sites like HTML.it have guides to get started with Access.
The best and updated online guide in Italian on Access 2010 and Access 2007 is however that of the Microsoft site which offers a very detailed general overview.
