Office 2007 For Dummies®

Chapter 17. Searching, Sorting, and Querying a Database

In This Chapter

• Searching and filtering a database

• Sorting databases

• Creating and using queries

If you need to find a specific name in your database, searching through the database alphabetically may be tedious but possible. However, if you need to find the names of everyone who ordered more than $50,000 worth of supplies in the past three months, trying to find this information yourself would prove tedious and time‐consuming. Yet, Access can search for this information at the blink of an eye.

If you search for specific types of data on a regular basis, you probably don't want to keep telling Access what to search for over and over again. To simplify this, you can create a query. A query lets you define specific ways to search your data and save those parameters so you can search your data in the future.

Besides searching through your data, Access can also sort your data. Sorting can be as simple as organizing names alphabetically, or it can be more complicated, such as sorting names according to ZIP code, annual salary, or alphabetically by last name. Sorting simply rearranges your data so you can study it from a new point of view.

By searching, sorting, and querying your data, you can extract useful information about your data.

Searching a Database

A paper database is useful for storing information, but not so useful for finding it again. If you have a thousand business cards stored in a Rolodex file, how much time do you want to ...