Access 2003 for Starters: The Missing Manual

Chapter 2. Creating Tables to Hold Data

• Planning Your Tables

• Creating Tables with the Wizard

• Creating Tables in the Design Window

• Adding and Editing Table Data

• Changing How a Table Displays Data

TABLES DO THE MOST IMPORTANT JOB IN A DATABASE: They actually store your information. They’re the foundation for all of Access’s other features. Accordingly, when you start a new, blank database, the first thing you do is create tables to hold your data. This chapter walks you through the two ways you can build tables in Access—the Table Wizard and Design view. At the end, you’ll learn how to enter records into your newly created tables the quick and dirty way, without the help of a form—in Datasheet view.

In the previous chapter, you started your database with the Order Entry template, which came equipped with a number of tables. A database designer somewhere, sometime, figured out which tables the database would need and then created them. When you create your own tables, you’re starting to design the structure of your own database. So dig out any notes you jotted down when you first started planning your database and read the box on the next page for more information on good database design to get a clearer idea of the tables you want to create.

Note

As your database grows in size and function, you can add new tables to any existing database at any time, including those you’ve created with a wizard. For example, if you start by keeping only customer information in a database, you can add a new ...