The New Face of Access 2007
Ever since Microsoft Office conquered the world (way back in the 1990s), programs like Word, Excel, and Access haven't changed a lot. Although a genuinely useful new feature appears once in a while, Microsoft spends more time wedging in odd gimmicks like a talking paper clip.
Access 2007 breaks this pattern and introduces some of the most dramatic changes Office fans have seen since Office 95. The most obvious change is the thoroughly revamped user interface (the windows, toolbars, menus, and keyboard shortcuts you use to interact with Access). After spending far too long trying to simplify the haphazard, toolbar-choked interfaces in most Office applications, Microsoft finally worked up the courage to redesign it all from scratch.
The Ribbon
The Access 2007 ribbon is a super-toolbar that replaces the various toolbars and menus in previous versions.
Note
Access doesn't show the ribbon until you create a database. If you can't stand the suspense any longer, and you want to be able to look at the ribbon on your monitor as you read the next couple of pages, follow the instructions in Section 1.2.1 to create a blank database.
The ribbon's divided into task-specific tabs—Home, Create, External Data, and so on. Initially, Access starts out with four tabs (although other tabs appear when you perform specific tasks). When you launch Access, you start at the Home tab. Click Create (as shown in Figure I-2), and you get access to a slew of powerful commands that let you ...
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