Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Chapter 7: Creating Basic Access Forms

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Cross-Reference
You’ll learn more about form properties in Chapter 8.

The Arrange tab’s Sizing & Ordering group contains commands to adjust spacing between con-

trols. The spacing commands adjust the distance between controls on the basis of the space

between the first two selected controls. If the controls are across the screen, use horizontal spacing;

if they’re down the screen, use vertical spacing. The spacing commands are

l (^) Equal Horizontal: Makes the horizontal space between selected controls equal. You must
select three or more controls in order for this command to work.
l (^) Increase Horizontal: Increases the horizontal space between selected controls by one grid
unit.
l (^) Decrease Horizontal: Decreases the horizontal space between selected controls by one
grid unit.
l (^) Equal Vertical: Makes the vertical space between selected controls equal. You must select
three or more controls in order for this command to work properly.
l (^) Increase Vertical: Increases the vertical space between selected controls by one grid unit.
l Decrease Vertical: Decreases the vertical space between selected controls by one grid
unit.
Tip
Aligning controls aligns the only the controls themselves. If you want to align the text within the controls (also
known as justifying the text), you must use the Format tab’s Font group and click the Left, Right, or
Center buttons.
Modifying the appearance of a control
To modify the appearance of a control, select the control and click on commands that modify that
control, such as the options in the Font or Controls group. Follow these steps to change the text
color and font of the Description label:

1. Click the Description label on the form.


2. In the Format tab’s Font group, change Font Size to 14, click the Bold button, and
   change Font Color to blue.


3. Resize the Description label so the larger text fits.

Remember: You can double-click any of the sizing handles to autosize the label.

To modify the appearance of multiple controls at once, select the controls and click on commands

to modify the controls, such as commands in the Font or Controls group. To change the text color

and font of the Description, Category, and Cost labels and text boxes, follow these steps:

1. Select the three labels and three text boxes by dragging a selection box through them
   (refer to Figure 7.11).