Datasheet
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Chapter 1: Getting to Know Access 2010
✓ If you want to place your personal stamp on every aspect of your report,
you can use Design view to
• Add titles, instructional or descriptive text boxes, and graphics.
• Set up customized headers and footers to include any information
you want to appear on all the report’s pages.
If all this sounds exciting, or at least interesting, then you’re really on the
right track with Access. The need to create custom reports is a major reason
to use Access; you can find out about all these reporting options in Chapters
17 through 19. That’s right: This chapter plus three more — that’s four whole
chapters — are devoted to reporting. It must be a big feature in Access!
What’s New in Access 2010?
For users of Access 2007, the upgrade to 2010 won’t seem like a big deal. Yes,
there are significant improvements and some really great new features, but
you’re won’t run smack into the learning curve that users of Access 2003
encountered upon upgrading to 2007 (and will still encounter if they move up
to 2010 without the interim step).
If you’re coming from 2003, the biggest changes are found in the interface —
gone are the familiar menus and toolbars of 2003 and prior versions, replaced
by a ribbon bar divided into tabs that take you to different versions of those
old standbys. It’s a big change, and it takes some getting used to.
In this book, however, we’re going to assume you already got your feet wet
with 2007 and aren’t thrown by the interface anymore. We’re figuring you
upgraded to 2007 or have played with it enough to feel comfortable diving
into 2010.
New and improved features
So what’s new in Access 2010? In the order you’re most likely to encounter
them, here goes:
✓ The File tab and its associated Backstage View panel are new; they
replace the Office button and resulting menu in Access 2007. Using the
panel on the left (shown in Figure 1-6), you make your choices for open-
ing new files, accessing recently used files, saving files, printing, and
exiting the application (among other momentous decisions). It’s a lot
like ye olde File menu from Access 2003 in terms of what’s available;
Backstage view makes the commands and features that used to live on
the File menu easily accessible. To get to it, just click the File tab.
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