Chapter 8: Working with Data on Access Forms
293
Tip
The Format Painter is a huge time-saver when working with many controls on a form or report. Set a control
(such as a text box) to look exactly the way you want all the text boxes to look, select the text box, and then
click (or double-click) the Format Painter. Then, as you click on another text box, the first text box’s formatting
is applied to the second text box. Double-clicking the Format Painter “locks” it so that you can paint the for-
mat onto multiple items. (Click once on the Format Painter to unlock it.)
The Sort & Filter group
The Sort & Filter group lets you change the order of the records, and, based on your criteria, limit
the records shown on the form.The Records group
The Records group lets you save, delete, or add a new record to the form. It also contains com-
mands to show totals, check spelling, freeze and hide columns, and change the row height and cell
width while the form is displayed in Datasheet view.The Find group
The Find group lets you find and replace data and go to specific records in the datasheet. Use the
Select command to select a record or all records.The Window group
The Window group contains two controls:l (^) Size to Fit Form: When you work with a form in Design view, Access “remembers” the
size (height and width) of the form at the moment you save it. When working with the
overlapping windows interface, a user may resize a form by dragging its borders to a new
size and shape. The Size to Fit Form returns the form to the dimension set at design time.
l (^) Switch Windows: Switch Windows provides a handy way to see all the objects (forms,
reports, tables, and so on) that are currently open in the main Access windows. You can
change to another object by selecting it from the drop-down list that appears when you
click on Switch Windows.
The Text Formatting group
The Text Formatting group lets you change the look of the datasheet in Datasheet view. Use these
commands to change the font, size, bold, italic, color, and so on. Use the Align Left, Align Right,
and Align Center commands to justify the data in the selected column. Click the Gridlines option
to toggle gridlines on and off. Use Alternate Fill/Back Color to change the colors of alternating
rows, or make them all the same. When modifying text in a Memo field with the Text Format
property set to Rich Text, you can use these commands to change the fonts, colors, and so on.