Access 2013 For Dummies

Chapter 13

I Want These AND Those OR Them

In This Chapter

Setting criteria for your queries

Working with the AND and OR operators

Including AND and OR in the same query

As you build larger and more complex databases with Access, your questions about the data they contain become larger and more complex. Simply changing the order of your records — sorting from A to Z and then from Z to A — and filtering it from one or more perspectives just may not be enough for your needs anymore. You want greater power to find and use data, and you need more from your database. You also need it quickly.

What to do? You can use queries that ask questions (present criteria to the database to see which records meet them) to help you find the records you need to access (pardon the expression) right now.

This chapter shows you how to set more specific criteria for your queries, controlling the answers to your database questions with ease and speed. You find out about two very powerful Access operators — AND and OR — what the operators do, how they do it, and (most important) when and why to use them.

If AND and OR are not the solutions to your query-building needs, Chapter 12 takes a more detailed ...