Datasheet

29
Chapter 1: Getting to Know Access 2010
you to get started with your database, be it an existing one that needs work
or a new one you have all planned out and ready to go.
Opening an existing database
Well, this is the easy one. If a database already exists, you can open it by
clicking the Office button (at the upper left of the workspace) and choosing
Recent from the list of commands that appears. As shown in Figure 1-12, a
panel opens, displaying the databases you’ve most recently used. Just click
the database in the list and it opens — listing its current tables, queries,
reports, and forms on the far left side of the window.
Figure 1-12:
Pick your
recently
used data-
base from
the Recent
list on the
right.
When the database is open, you can open its various parts just by double-
clicking them in that leftmost panel; whatever you open appears in the main,
central part of the window. Figure 1-13 shows an example: a table, ready for
editing.
After you open a table, you can begin entering or editing records — and you
can read more about how that’s done in Chapter 6, which demonstrates the
different ways to edit your data and tweak your tables’ setups. If you want
to tinker with any existing queries, these, too, open just by clicking them in
the list on the left side of the workspace. (For more information on queries,
check out Chapters 11 and 12. You can do simple sorting and look for particu-
lar records with the skills you pick up in Chapters 9 and 11.)
Starting a new database from scratch
So you don’t have a database to open, eh? Well, don’t let that stop you. To
start a new one, all you have to do is open Access — using any of the tech-
niques listed earlier in this chapter (except the one that starts Access by
opening an existing database file, which you don’t have yet but will now).
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