How To Make Labels In Access Databases Using The Label Wizard Tool

Take a look at this video tutorial which is under 7 minutes long on how to make labels in Access using the label wizard tool.

It’s a very simple utility to use and the video explains in good detail of each step required to build effective labels for your Access database reports.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDS3obzBcgU

How To Make Labels In Access Databases Using The Label Wizard Tool

It’ s refreshing to see the author of this video see some ‘error‘ or warning prompts when running this tool as it is not perfect and that is why I wanted to include it in my blog post because if you know how to work around this then you are good to go.

Learning how to make labels in Access using the label wizard tool is simple enough of follow and it would have been nice to see more information on the design side as most label reports will need some tweaking.

To learn about report designs in much more detail, check out my eBook on How to Build Access Database Reports.

Monday, Feb 27, 2012
This website is about learning how to build an Access database using the most effective techniques and tools available with very little or no knowledge and get you up and running without the need to learn all the ‘geek’ speak keeping it Jargon free that most trainers and consultants like to impress you with!

If you are new to Microsoft Access or wish to know what it is, please take a look at
An Introduction To Microsoft Access.

This website contains blog posts, products and general tips to help users find out all about Microsoft Access latest news and articles I feel worth mentioning and recommendations of videos and books on the subject.

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How To Create An Access Query: The Simple Steps (Part 2)

In part 1, I explained the worklfow and planning on how to create an Access query by taking a pen and paper exercise to create that checklist. In this second part, I’m going to quickly step you through the essentials.

As a reminder, here’s the pseudo statement that started the process to list your tables, fields and other key attributes including criteria and sorting:

Show a list of order transactions for the first quarter of 2011 of
all customers based in the UK showing the date, order number,
amount, delivery cost and itemised in order by customer name
and chronologically by date for each customer.

How To Create An Access Query: The Simple Steps (Part 2)

Here are the steps (I’m using Microsoft Access 2010):

1. Create an Access query by going to the Create tab, choosing Query Design icon.
2. Choose the tables for your query; in this case we have two (Customers and Orders).
3. Add the fields using your checklist in the order they are to appear (left to right).
4. Quickly run the query to make sure it’s working – back to design view when done.
5. Add criteria one by one and test each addition including any sorting options too.
6. Finally check th results and make sure there are no missing or duplicated records.
7. Save changes - done!

The criteria for the first quarter of 2011 would look something like:

Between #01/01/2011# And #31/03/2011#

The criteria to show only the UK based customers would look something like:

= "UK"

To learn more about how to really understand how to create an Access query, my eBook on How to Build Access Database Queries – using easy to understand principles will cover all the essentails and comes with a 100% money back guarantee.

ListBox Controls In Microsoft Access Database Forms - Simple To Create

This video tutorial (less than 3 minutes) demonstrates what Listbox controls are in a Microsoft Access form and explains the difference between this control and the similar ComboBox control.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQrCO9-_QOQ

ListBox Controls In Microsoft Access Database Forms - An Alternative To The ComboBox Control

Using default control wizard utility, the system builds Listbox controls (including the ComboBox too) in seconds with the option of either defining your own value list (as demonstrated) or binding the source to either a table or query making this a versatile control for your Access forms.

There is a third option (subject to the form being based on a table or query) that allows users to add macro/VBA code to finding records in table or query. Just follow the wizard steps!

A good form designs makes using an Access database more intuitive and is highly recommended for the non-IT savvy! To help you along, my eBook guides are a good place to start.

How To Create An Access Query: The Simple Steps (Part 1)

In this post, I’m going to talk about the planning of how to create an Access query, which is the step prior to using Microsoft Access itself (that’s in part 2).

The Access query is an important object to your database as it will serve you in your final reports, maintain data integrities and control workflows with code.

How To Create An Access Query: The Simple Steps (Part 1)

Here are my steps to planning and create an Access query focusing first on the planning of such an object:

If this query is to serve as a report whether it is going to be exported, published on the web or used in an Access report, you need to decide on what fields (columns) of information you will need. But the first thing I teach my students is to write down on piece of paper in a sentence or two the report requirements.

This should be clear and simple to understand! For example, take a look at the following sentence:

Show a list of order transactions for the first quarter of 2011 of
all customers based in the UK showing the date, order number,
amount, delivery cost and itemised in order by customer name
and chronologically by date for each customer.

You will need to know the architecture of the database i.e. which tables and fields this information will be used to supply the above request and this is the next step by listing the tables and fields:

Table: Customers - fields: name and country
Table: Orders - fields: order number, date, amount, delivery cost

Also identify where there is a common link between the two tables;
in this case 'customer reference' will be stored in both tables.

Next step is to list the criteria and sorting options by going back to the sentence and re-read it:

• Sort by the customer name and then by the order date (in that order).
• Set criteria to the country origin (in this case UK) and apply a rule to return the first three months of 2011 from the order date field.

Using the sentence, you highlight and cross out your words one by one meeting the objectives above – use it as the checklist.

Now you are ready to create an Access query in Microsoft Access which is covered in part 2 – Keep a look out for it!

In the meantime, you can always consider my eBooks that step you through the process of building Access queries (the correct way). Perhaps you may want to share your method of how to create an Access query in the reply box below

Microsoft Access Dependencies: What Is The Object Dependencies Pane?

You may have been using Microsoft Access for some
time now but there are always new techniques and tools to
know including Access dependencies. This utility
gives you a view of related Access objects including
tables, queries, forms and reports.

What if you decided to delete say a query? How would that impact the rest of your database? Using this tool, you at least get an idea to which other objects are somehow related before taking any action.

Take a look at a recent article I published on how to use this tool and what to look out for…

Microsoft Access Dependencies: Why Use The Built In Object Dependency Tool And What To Look Out For

Microsoft Access Dependencies:  Final thoughts

There are other tools that serious Access users should know about other than Access dependencies and can be easily found either via the back-stage (Access 2010) or from the Database Tools/Utilities tab.

In order to master the main objects of Microsoft Access, you will require some tuition or perhaps investing in some useful online guides like my eBook bundle. Take a browse!

Microsoft Access Hyperlinks: Easy To Create And Apply

Take a look at how easy Access hyperlinks are with this effective two minute video tutorial showing the simple steps in a table when setting the field’s data type to ‘Hyperlink’.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg7OYbKwExA

Microsoft Access Hyperlinks: Easy To Create And Apply

Like with all defined data types and their properties in a table, your forms inherit these settings too making the smooth transition to a user-friendly Access application.

Microsoft Access hyperlinks have been around since version 97 and in a form you will see more properties that can be further refined.

To understand more about tables, forms or any other key attribute of Microsoft Access, you always have my eBook bundle collection available to you at a discounted price with a 100% money back guarantee too.

Microsoft Access Subreport: The Key Properties When Embedding A Report

Take a look at the image below and you should be able to spot an Access subreport embedded into the main report.

See how the order summary information appears to be seamless to the profile information showing no border edges, scroll bars and other unwanted properties too.

Microsoft Access Subreport: The Key Properties When Embedding A Report

The following properties are some of the key elements that trick the user into thinking this was just one rich formatted report but in reality, it’s at least an Access subreport which can also be optionally not linked to the main report too.

1. Switch off the border to no border or format as the same background colour.
2. Remove all the scrollbars, there’s no reason to display as this is summary and should fit into one view.
3. Remove all sections that give away the clue to an Access subreport like the report and page header and footers. You only need to really use the detail section.
4. Related data should be linked between the subreport and main report by a common field (relational data values).

Microsoft Access Subreport: The Key Properties When Embedding A Report

The Property Sheet is where all properties can be set and you need to be in the Access subreport design view to gain control of the above properties and more.

Keep saving your work as to save any heartache of losing your hard work.

There are many other properties, techniques and good tips to learn from my eBook on How to Build Access Database Reports – Creating that all professional look!.

Sending Emails From Access Databases Using Access 2010 Outlook Collect Data

Take a look at this video on sending emails from Access (which is less than 3 minutes long) highlighting one of the many new features of Microsoft Access 2010 using the ‘Collect Data’ feature integrating with Microsoft Outlook.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=6r-oc49dHYE

Sending Emails From Access Databases Using Access 2010 Outlook Collect Data

There are some rules however to note which includes obviously having Microsoft Outlook installed and configured ready for sending and receiving emails. Strange that I mention this because some users do not use Outlook for emails! So sending emails from Access uses the mail settings services as configured in Microsoft Outlook.

You will not be able to include certain field types in the form such as, AutoNumber, Attachment, OLE Object, or multi-valued lookup fields.

Designing an Access form (bound to a table) will be ideal for this sort of functionality and making sending emails from Access smooth to operate. Need to know how to build forms? Take a look at my eBook - How to build Microsoft Access Forms.

Tools In Ms Access Databases: Avoid Microsoft Access Corruptions

One of the most popular desktop relational database applications of today, sometimes Microsoft Access can get a little ‘confused‘ causing corruption of which there are tools in MS Access to help manage and keep a handle of your database.

As a result of some corrupted database files, you are either unable to gain access or see data in the consistent format as expected or worse still, keeps crashing when view a particular record.

The reasons why Microsoft Access does this are plentiful and is not a detailed discussion within this blog today. More importantly though is how do we handle unexpected corruptions?

Tools In Ms Access Databases: Avoid Microsoft Access Corruptions

Here are my five tips and the tools in MS Access to help avoid and reduce the need to call out a software engineer:

1. Exiting the application – If you have dedicated forms or a macro call, use it to close the application properly and avoid the CTRL + ALT + DEL method. Exiting also means closing any network connections if sharing a database when reading and writing records across a network and especially if you use VBA code to connect to other servers. An improper disconnection leaves an empty void in the machine’s memory allocation and it is just not a cool thing to do!

2. Splitting Microsoft Access database – If you share a database over a network where you are bound to have concurrent users, and then consider splitting it into at least two parts. The first part is deemed the ‘back-end‘ and holds just tables (data) on the shared drive (server). The other part; the ‘front-end‘ holds all the other objects locally stored on each user’s PC pointing to the ‘back-end‘. Use the Database Splitter utility to set this up - it’s a breeze to use.

3. Compact & Repair database – Decide how frequent this task should be carried out (can be daily, weekly, monthly etc.) which simply does two things; compacts the file size to a natural size by squeezing the unwanted air out of an inflated file and then repair any corrupted indexes found resetting keys (including the primary key auto-number counter). This tool is found in the utilities section (varies for different versions).
4. Backing up (& restoring) databases – This is an obvious utility and simple to use which is in effect a file copy action (as a new file instance). Consider doing this pre and post the Compact & Repair just in case this utility corrupts the database! Always use these tools in MS Access – If you learn to use back up then the law of averages says you won’t need it!

5. Analyzer Table – When designing your database, it’s easy to forget setting certain attributes especially for a table and their fields namely indexes. When create relational databases, this becomes and important element in the performance and data integrity and larger volumes of data can take longer to process leading to sometimes a system crash. Use this tool to suggest and recommend what could be added to improve and thus reduce corruptions and in this case indexing is key here!

Tools In Ms Access Databases: Avoid Microsoft Access Corruptions

There you have it, a simple set of suggestions that are often over looked but using the tools in MS Access will help reduce the headaches that some developers experience and then blame Microsoft for.

To learn more about some of these tools and the techniques in building an Access database, take a look at some of my eBooks that I offer (great value! and a money back guarantee too).