Introduction to Microsoft Access

Build, edit, and maintain databases in Microsoft Access using tables, reports, forms, and queries to give you fast access to all your important information. This hands-on course for beginners provides the skills to create an effective database for any type of information at home or on the job. This course is appropriate for Access versions 2019, 2021 and 365.

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6 Weeks / 24 Course Hrs
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Introduction to Microsoft Access

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Course code: ac9

Virtually every industry can benefit from the use of Microsoft Access to organize, store, and document their essential information. Data ranging from inventory and customer information to orders details and vendors can be effectively organized with Microsoft's longstanding software. If you work with databases of any kind, learning how to use Access will add a valuable skill set to your professional profile.

This course will teach you one of the most useful skills for both job seekers and those looking for promotion. If you know how to use Microsoft Excel, learning Access informs and enhances your current skill set, allowing you to take a stronger role in database management. This course is for Access versions 2019, 2021 and 365.

What you will learn

  • Planning and building a database consisting of multiple tables
  • Creating logical relationships between database tables
  • Designing effective and powerful data entry forms
  • Building efficient and useful queries to find and organize records
  • Generation of professional-looking reports

How you will benefit

  • You will be able to build and customize Access databases
  • Existing Access databases will make more sense
  • Gain knowledge to take a stronger role in the database maintenance
  • Design professional-looking forms and reports

How the course is taught

  • Instructor-Moderated or Self-Guided online course
  • 6 Weeks or 3 Months access
  • 24 course hours

In this lesson, you'll find out what Access is and how individuals, businesses, and organizations use it to store information. You'll begin to build an Access database, including all the components that turn a list of records into reports, forms, and queries. You'll start by opening the application and creating a new database.

It's time to lay down the law! In this lesson, you'll impose rules that automatically fill an Access table field with a preset value or that automatically insert the symbols commonly included in phone numbers. You'll also set up rules that require allow only certain kinds of data in certain fields. With just a few minutes of work, you can make data entry simpler, clearer, and practically error-frees.

You'll create additional tables for the class database, customize them along the way, and then build relationships between them. This all paves the way for later database features, such as reports, queries, and forms that draw from multiple tables in the database.

In this lesson, you'll use forms for data entry and for viewing records in your tables. You'll meet the Form Wizard, which makes form building fast and easy and which allows you to select one or more tables' fields to include. You'll also learn how to change the form layout.

In this lesson, you'll add buttons and controls to forms. You'll also adjust table relationships to support the creation of multi-table forms, which paves the way to creating queries and reports that draw data from more than one table.

Using queries to sort, filter, and search your database is one of the most important skills you'll master in this course. In this lesson, you'll create queries that search for specific data. You'll also customize how Access displays that data. By following the instructions step by step, you'll first become familiar with the process, and then you'll get to create a query on your own!

A query that puts specific records in order or finds all the records that have a general piece of information in common is, well, pretty common. Being able to create that kind of query is a great foundation skill, but it won't help you find a very specific record. Nor will it let you search for records within a span of dates or other numeric values. It also won't help you exclude certain records, reducing a large pool of data to just those records you need to see. In this lesson, you'll create queries that give you true power to search your database.

In this lesson, you'll learn to plan, build, and use queries that pull data from more than one table at a time. This gives you more power over your data and allows you to build a great foundation for truly customized reports.

Reports are easy to create and to customize. In this lesson, you'll build a simple report using the Report Wizard. Then you'll change the report's appearance, using layout view and design view. These skills provide the foundation to create and design any report you may need on any data in your database.

In this lesson, you'll create reports that are based on the results of queries you create to sort and filter your database. Because queries can combine data from multiple tables, filter for specific data, and sort the results, your report reflects just the data that meet the query's criteria. This makes truly customized reporting possible—and quite simple.

In this lesson, you'll plan and create a completely customized report, using a specialized query that controls which data the report includes. You'll add fields that perform calculations on your data. You'll customize your report's layout, too, using design view's many tools for controlling the structure and appearance of your data.

Building macros (short programs that perform a series of steps) helps you speed up and create consistency in your more repetitive Access tasks. From opening a form to running a report to building a new record in a table, macros eliminate redundant procedures by turning them into something you can do with one click.

Ken Cook

Ken Cook has managed his own successful computer consulting business since 1990. He began as a trainer, instructing numerous users on a variety of software packages, specializing in Microsoft Office. Currently, his main focus is creating expert Microsoft Office solutions, Microsoft Access database solutions, and Microsoft SQL Server solutions for Fortune 500 and small business clients. He is also co-author of four "Access for Dummies" books.

Instructor Interaction: The instructor looks forward to interacting with learners in the online moderated discussion area to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have on the course content.

Prerequisites:

There are no prerequisites to take this course.

Requirements:

Hardware Requirements:

  • This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.

Software Requirements:

  • PC: Windows 10 or later.
  • Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox are preferred. Microsoft Edge is also compatible.
  • Microsoft Access 2019, 2021 and Office 365 desktop (not included in enrollment). Available to download with a subscription to Microsoft 365, or with Microsoft Office Professional. Microsoft Access 2016 is also acceptable. Please note: There may be some differences between your version of Access and what you see in the course.
  • Adobe Acrobat Reader.
  • Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.

Other:

  • Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.

Instructional Material Requirements:

The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.

Instructor-Moderated: A new session of each course begins each month. Please refer to the session start dates for scheduling.​

Self-Guided: Your course begins immediately after you enroll.​

Instructor-Moderated: Once a course session starts, two lessons will be released each week for the 6 week duration of your course. You will have access to all previously released lessons until the course ends. You will interact with the instructor through the online discussion area. There are no live sessions or online meetings with the instructor.

Self-Guided: You have 3 months of access to the course. After enrolling, you can learn and complete the course at your own pace, within the allotted access period. You will have the opportunity to interact with other students in the online discussion area.

Instructor-Moderated: The interactive discussion area for each lesson automatically closes two weeks after each lesson is released, so you're encouraged to complete each lesson within two weeks of its release. However, you will have access to all lessons from the time they are released until the course ends.​

Self-Guided: There is no time limit to complete each lesson, other than completing all lessons within the allotted access period. Discussion areas for each lesson are open for the entire duration of the course.

Instructor-Moderated: Students enrolled in a six-week online class benefit from a one-time, 10-day extension for each course. No further extensions can be provided beyond these 10 days.​

Self-Guided: Because this course is self-guided, no extensions will be granted after the start of your enrollment.

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