Part I: Access Building Blocks
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Note
A compact and repair cycle on an Access database forces Access to rebuild the indexes in all the tables, and
physically rearranges tables in primary key order in the .accdb file. The maintenance operations ensure that
your Access databases operate at maximum efficiency.
Printing a Table Design
You can print a table design by clicking the Database Documenter button in the Analyze group on
the ribbon’s Database Tools tab. The Analyze group contains a number of tools that make it easy to
document your database objects. When you click the Database Documenter button, Access shows
you the Documenter dialog box, which lets you select objects to print. In Figure 2.30, tblCus-
tomers is selected in the documenter’s Tables tab.FIGURE 2.30The Documenter dialog box
You can also set various options for printing. When you click the Options button, the Print Table
Definition dialog box (shown in Figure 2.31) appears, enabling you to select which information
from the Table Design to print. You can print the various field names, all their properties, the
indexes, and even network permissions.Caution
Don’t select too many options in the Print Table Definition dialog box. Printing every detail of a table’s design
can take many pages to output. It’s probably best to print just a few items for a table, and add to the options
when necessary.
After you select which data you want to view, Access generates a report. You can view the report in
a Print Preview window or send it to a printer. You may want to save the report within the data-
base as part of the application’s documentation.