Microsoft Access 2010 Bible

Chapter 22: Integrating Access with Other Applications

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Collecting Data with Microsoft Outlook

Access 2010 includes a new feature that lets you use Outlook to collect data from one or more

users. This feature automatically creates a data-entry form in an Outlook e-mail message, gives you

several options for sending, and then adds or modifies data in the database. This saves you lots of

time when sending out surveys or updating contact information by letting users without access to

your application do data entry.

The Collect Data feature in Microsoft Access is a powerful tool letting you separate some users

from your applications. If you want to add or update data to your database application, create a

data-entry form, send it to the users you want data from, and then process the replies automati-

cally or manually.

Note
The data collection process described in this section applies only to Outlook 2007 and 2010. Data collection
doesn’t work with Outlook 2003 and earlier versions.

Creating an e-mail

Creating an e-mail consists of a number of steps, which Access presents in a wizard when you click

the Create E-mail button in the Collect Data group of the External Data ribbon (shown in Figure

22.12).

Tip
You must select a table or query in the Navigation Pane before creating an e-mail. You can’t collect data if you
have nowhere to store it.

FIGURE 22.12

Use the Collect Data group on the External Data ribbon to use Outlook to get information from users.

Collect Data group

Create E-mail Manage Replies