Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

25

CHAPTER

Creating Access

Tables

IN THIS CHAPTER

Introducing Microsoft Access

Opening a new database

Getting acquainted with the

Access environment

Adding tables to a database

Creating a new table

Modifying the design of a table

Working with field properties

Specifying the primary key

Adding indexes

Documenting a table’s design

Saving a new table

Working with tables

Adding data to a table

Using attachment fields

I

n this chapter, you learn how to create a new Access database and its
tables. You establish the database container to hold your tables, forms,
queries, reports, and code that you build as you learn Access. Finally,
you create the actual tables used by the Collectible Mini Cars database.

Note
This chapter uses the examples in the database named Chapter02.accdb. If
you haven’t yet copied this file from the book’s CD, please do so now.

Getting Started with Access

As you open Access 2010, the default startup screen, called the Backstage, is
revealed (see Figure 2.1). I’ll examine the Backstage in more detail later in
this chapter, but you should understand the major components of the user
interface as you get started using Access 2010. Even experienced Access
developers are surprised at how different Access 2010 looks from previous
versions.

Each time you open Access, the welcome screen may or may not look differ-
ent, depending on whether you’ve elected to have Office Online periodically
update the user interface. In an effort to provide a high level of support for
Microsoft Office users, Microsoft has equipped each of the Office applica-
tions with the ability to communicate directly with Microsoft’s Web servers
and download new content to the user’s desktop.