Access® 2007 For Dummies®

Chapter 11. Fast Finding, Filtering, and Sorting Data

In This Chapter

• Locating data with the Find command

• Sorting your database

• Filtering by selection

• Filtering by form

You probably already know what databases do. They help you store and organize the information that's important to you — your personal information, your business‐related information, any kind of information you need to keep track of.

Of course, this is not a new concept. People have been storing information for as long as there've been people. From making scratches in the dirt to keep count of the number of sheep in the flock to handwritten census information to metal filing cabinets filled with typed lists and reports, man has been using databases for a long, long time.

Of course, things are a lot easier now. You can store millions of records in a single computer, and people all over the world can access them, assuming they have permission. Farmers can keep track of their sheep, countries can keep track of their populations, and you can keep track of your friends, family, employees, products, and holiday card lists — anything your little data‐driven heart desires.

But what is all this “keeping track” of which I speak? It's not just storing the data — it's getting at it when you need it. Thanks to the magic of the Find, Sort, and Filter commands, Access tracks and reorganizes the stuff in your tables faster than ever and puts it literally at your fingertips whenever you need to locate one or more of the pieces of information ...