Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Part I: Access Building Blocks

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The check boxes in this menu contain data that appears in the column. In this case, the choices

are: (Select All), (Blanks), Minivans, Cars, SUV, Trucks, Motorcycles, and SpecialInterest. Click

(Select All) to see all the records regardless of this field’s value. Click (Blanks) to see the records

that don’t contain data. Select any of the data values to limit the records where the field contains

the selected values. Click on Minivans and Cars to display the records where Category is equal

to Minivans or Cars.

If you want to filter data but you can’t find the value that you want to use and you know the value,

click the Text Filters (or Number Filters, Date Filters, and so on) command and choose one of the

available commands (Equals, Does Not Equal, Begins With, and so on) to display a dialog box

where you type in the desired value.

Filtering by form

Filter by Form lets you enter criteria into a single row on the datasheet. Clicking the Filter by Form

button transforms the datasheet into a single row containing a drop-down list in every column.

The drop-down list contains all the unique values for the column. An Or tab at the bottom of the

window lets you specify OR conditions for each group. Choose Advanced ➪ Filter by Form in the

ribbon’s Sort & Filter group to enter Filter by Form mode, shown in Figure 6.21.

Select values from the combo boxes or type values you want to search for in the field. If you want to

see records where the Category is Trucks or SUVs, select Trucks from the Category drop-down

list, click the Or tab at the bottom of the window, and then select SUVs from the Category drop-

down list. To see records where Category is SUV and QtyInStock is 1, select SUV from the

Category drop-down and type 1 in QtyInStock. Once you enter the desired criteria, click the

Toggle Filter command to apply the filter. (The Toggle Filter button is shown back in Figure 6.3.)

FIGURE 6.21

Using Filter by Form lets you set multiple conditions for filtering at one time. Notice the Or tab at the bot-
tom of the window.

Enter as many conditions as you need using the Or tab. If you need even more advanced manipu-

lation of your selections, you can choose Advanced ➪ Advanced Filter/Sort from the ribbon’s Sort

& Filter group to get an actual QBE (Query by Example) screen that you can use to enter more-

complex criteria.