Access® 2007 For Dummies®

Chapter 23. Ten Uncommon Tips

In This Chapter

• Documenting everything

• Cutting the excess from your fields

• Storing numbers as numbers

• Validating your data

• Naming your tables well

• Dodging deletion distress

• Thinking about the best, planning for the worst

• Keeping your data ducks in a row

• Sending out an SOS

Technical experts — the geeks/gurus who really know Access — might be annoying (perhaps simply because they exist and know way more about databases than a human should), but they're important. They're important to average Access users because they provide invaluable advice, and they're important to Access because they drive the way Microsoft continuously improves its products. They're the people who test Office products before they hit the shelves, and they're the ones who write books (like this one and more advanced books for more advanced users).

So, the people who develop databases for a living are an essential resource to the average user, to the “power user,” and to the software manufacturer as well. This chapter is a compilation of some of the best advice gathered from a host of Access experts. Knowing they were offering suggestions for new users, nothing you read here is going to make your head spin or make you doubt that after reading this book, you really can use Access. To the contrary, the advice found here will help you be more confident and effective in your use of Access because you'll have done the right amount of planning and organizing of your efforts, and you'll have solid plans ...