Ms Office Tune Up

In this chapter, you’ll slap together a fairly straightforward database. The example’s designed to store a list of prized bobblehead dolls. (For those not in the know, a bobblehead doll is a toy figure with an outsize head on a spring, hence the signature “bobbling” motion. Bobblehead dolls usually resemble a famous celebrity, politician, athlete, or fictional character.)

Here’s how to create a blank new database:

1. On the Getting Started page, click the Blank Database button.

   A side panel appears on the right (see Figure 1-2).

   Figure 1-2. The database Bobblehead.accdb will be placed in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\Matt\My Documents. You can edit the file name by clicking in the File Name box, and you can browse to a different folder by clicking the folder icon.

2. Type in a file name.

   Access stores all the information for a database in a single file with the extension .accdb (which stands for Access database). Don’t stick with the name Access picks automatically (like Database1.accdb). Instead, pick something more suit-able. In this example, Bobblehead.accdb does the trick.

   As with any other file, Access files can contain a combination of letters, spaces, numbers, parentheses, hyphens (-), and the underscore (_). It’s generally safest to stay away from other special characters, some of which aren’t allowed.

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   Note: Depending on your computer settings, Windows may hide file extensions. Instead of seeing the Access database file MyScandalousWedding.accdb in file-browsing tools like Windows Explorer, you may just see the name MyScandalousWedding (without the .accdb part on the end). In this case, you can still tell the file type by looking at the icon. If you see a small Access icon next to the file name (which looks like a key), that’s your signal that you’re looking at an Access database. If you see something else (like a tiny paint palette), you need to make a logical guess about what type of file it is.

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3. Choose a folder.

   Like all Office programs, Access assumes you want to store every file you create in your personal My Documents folder. If this isn’t the case, click the folder icon to show the File New Database dialog box, browse to the folder you want (Figure 1-3), and then click OK.

4. Click the Create button (at the bottom-right of the Access window).

   Access creates your database file and then pops up a datasheet where you can get to work creating your first table.

Once you create or open a database, the Access window changes quite a bit. An impressive-looking toolbar (the ribbon) appears at the top of your screen, and a navigation pane shows up on the left. You’re now in the control center where you’ll perform all your database tasks (as shown in Figure 1-4).

The Introduction covers the basics of how the ribbon works. (Jump to Section 03.2 for the full details.) But first, it’s time to consider how you can make use of your brand-new, empty database by adding a table.

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