Access 2010: The Missing Manual

Getting Started with Your First Database

When you start Access, you begin in backstage view, with the New command already selected. From there, you’re just a few clicks away from generating a database of your very own.

In this chapter, you’ll slap together a fairly straightforward database. The example is designed to store a list of prized bobblehead dolls. (For those not in the know, a bobblehead doll is a toy figure with an oversized head on a spring, hence the signature “bobbling” motion. Bobblehead dolls usually resemble a famous celebrity, politician, athlete, or fictional character.)

Tip

You can get the Bobblehead database, and all the databases in this book, on the Missing CD page at www.missingmanuals.com/cds.

Here’s how to create a blank new database:

1. If you’re currently working with a database, choose File→New. If you’ve just started Access, you’re there already.

   The Access window now has three columns (Figure 1-1). At left is a narrow strip of backstage commands. In the middle section, you choose the type of database you want. At far right is an optional picture that previews your choice, a text box for you to pick the file name, and the all-important Create button.

2. At the far right, in the File Name box, type a file name for the database you’re about to create.

   Access stores all the information for a database in a single file with the extension .accdb (which stands for “Access database”). Don’t stick with the name Access picks automatically (like “Database1.accdb”). Instead, ...