How to Have Program Create Database the First Time It Is Run but Never Again

This article covers the basic process of starting Admission and creating a database that will be used on desktop machines, not over the Spider web. It explains how to create a desktop database by using a template, and how to build a database from scratch by creating your own tables, forms, reports, and other database objects. It too explains some techniques that you tin can use to get existing data into your new database.

In this article

• Overview

• Create a database by using a template

• Create a database without using a template

• Copy data from another source into an Admission table

• Import, append, or link to data from another source

• Add an application part

• Open an existing Access database

Overview

When you first start Access, or if you close a database without closing Access, Microsoft Office Backstage view is displayed.

Backstage view is a starting bespeak from which you can create a new database, open an existing database, view featured content from Office.com  — anything you can use Access to practise to a database file or outside of a database, as opposed to within a database.

Creating a database

When you open Access, Backstage view displays the New tab. The New tab provides several ways that you tin can create a new database:

• A blank database    Yous can kickoff from scratch if y'all desire. This is a good option if you have very specific pattern requirements or have existing data that you need to adapt or incorporate.

• A template that is installed with Admission    Consider using a template if you are starting a new project and would like a head start. Access comes with several templates installed by default.

• A template from Office.com    In improver to the templates that come with Admission, you can discover many more templates on Function.com. You don't even have to open up a browser, the templates are available from the New tab.

Adding to a database

One time y'all are working in a database, you can add fields, tables or application parts.

Application parts are a feature that let you use several related database objects together as if they were one. For example, an application part might consist of a tabular array and a form that is based on the table. You tin can add the table and the course at the aforementioned time by using the application part.

You can likewise create queries, forms, reports, macros - all the database objects that you lot are used to working with.

Create a database by using a template

Access comes with a variety of templates that you can use as-is or as a starting bespeak. A template is a prepare-to-use database that contains all the tables, queries, forms, macros, and reports needed to perform a specific task. For example, there are templates that you can use to track issues, manage contacts, or keep a record of expenses. Some templates contain a few sample records to assist demonstrate their employ.

If i of these templates fits your needs, using it is usually the fastest way to get a database started. Notwithstanding, if you have information in another programme that you want to import into Access, you might decide it is better to create a database without using a template. Templates accept a information structure already defined, and information technology might require a lot of work to adapt your existing data to the template's structure.

1. If you accept a database open, on the File tab, click Close. Backstage view displays the New tab.

2. Several sets of templates are available in the New tab, some of which are built into Access. You tin download additional templates from Office.com. See the next department in this article for details.

3. Select the template that you lot desire to use.

4. Access suggests a file name for your database in the File Name box — y'all can modify the file name, if you want. To relieve the database in a different folder from the one displayed below the file name box, click , browse to the folder in which y'all want to salvage it, and then click OK. Optionally, you can create and link your database to a SharePoint site.

5. Click Create.

   Access creates a database from the template that you chose, and so opens the database. For many templates, a form is displayed in which you lot tin brainstorm entering information. If your template contains sample data, you can delete each record by clicking the record selector (the shaded box or bar just to the left of the tape), and then doing the following:

   On the Abode tab, in the Records group, click Delete.

6. To begin entering data, click in the starting time empty prison cell on the course and begin typing. Utilize the Navigation Pane to browse for other forms or reports that yous might desire to utilise. Some templates include a navigation course which allows you lot to movement between the unlike database objects.

For more than information about working with templates, come across the article Utilize a template to create an Access desktop database.

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Create a database without using a template

If you are not interested in using a template, you lot can create a database by building your own tables, forms, reports, and other database objects. In virtually cases, this involves one or both of the post-obit:

• Inbound, pasting, or importing data into the table that is created when you lot create a new database, and and so repeating the process with new tables that you create by using the Table command on the Create tab.

• Importing data from other sources and creating new tables in the process.

Create a bare database

1. On the File tab, click New, and and so click Blank Database.

2. Type a file name in the File Name box. To alter the location of the file from the default, click Browse for a location to put your database (next to the File Proper name box), scan to the new location, and and then click OK.

3. Click Create.

   Admission creates the database with an empty table named Table1, and and then opens Table1 in Datasheet view. The cursor is placed in the beginning empty cell in the Click to Add column.

4. Begin typing to add together information, or you can paste data from another source, equally described in the section Copy information from another source into an Access table.

Inbound information in Datasheet view is designed to be very similar to working in an Excel worksheet. The table structure is created while you enter information. When you add a new column to the datasheet, a new field is defined in the table. Access automatically sets each field's data type, based on the information that you enter.

If you do non want to enter information in Table1 at this time, click Close . If you made any changes to the table, Access prompts you to save the changes. Click Yes to salvage your changes, click No to discard them, or click Cancel to leave the table open up.

Tip: Access looks for a file named Bare.accdb in the folder located at [install drive]:\Programme Files\Microsoft Office\Templates\1033\Access\. If it exists, Bare.accdb is the template for all new blank databases. Whatsoever content it contains is inherited by all new blank databases. This is a good way to distribute default content, such every bit office numbers or company disclaimers and policies.

Important:If you shut Table1 without saving it at to the lowest degree once, Access deletes the entire table, even if y'all take entered data in it.

Add a table

You tin can add new tables to an existing database past using the commands in the Tables group on the Create tab.

Create a table, starting in Datasheet view    In Datasheet view, you lot can enter data immediately and let Admission build the table construction behind the scenes. Field names are assigned numerically (Field1, Field2, and so on), and Access automatically sets each field's data type, based on the data you enter.

1. On the Create tab, in the Tables group, click Tabular array.

   Admission creates the table and selects the first empty cell in the Click to Add together column.

2. On the Fields tab, in the Add & Delete grouping, click the type of field that y'all want to add together. If you don't see the blazon that you lot want, click More than Fields .

3. Access displays a list of commonly used field types. Click the field type that y'all want, and Access adds the new field to the datasheet at the insertion point.

   You tin move the field by dragging it. When you drag a field in a datasheet, a vertical insertion bar appears where the field will be placed.

4. To add data, begin typing in the commencement empty cell, or paste information from some other source, as described in the section Copy data from some other source into an Access tabular array.

5. To rename a column (field), double-click the column heading, and then type the new name.

   You should give a meaningful name to each field, and then that you can tell what it contains when yous see it in the Field List pane.

6. To move a column, click its heading to select the column, and then elevate the column to the location that you want. You tin can too select multiple contiguous columns and then drag them to a new location all at once. To select multiple contiguous columns, click the cavalcade header of the outset column, and then, while holding downwardly SHIFT, click the column header of the last column.

Create a table, starting in Design view    In Design view, you lot starting time create the tabular array structure. You and then switch to Datasheet view to enter data, or enter data past using some other method, such equally pasting, or importing.

1. On the Create tab, in the Tables group, click Tabular array Design.

2. For each field in your table, type a name in the Field Name column, and then select a data type from the Data Blazon listing.

3. If you want, you can type a description for each field in the Description column. The clarification is so displayed on the status bar when the cursor is located in that field in Datasheet view. The description is also used as the status bar text for any controls in a form or report that you create past dragging the field from the Field List pane, and for any controls that are created for that field when y'all utilise the Form Sorcerer or Report Wizard.

4. After you take added all of your fields, relieve the table:

   • On the File tab, click Save.

5. Yous tin can begin typing data in the table at any time by switching to Datasheet view and clicking in the first empty cell. Yous can too paste data from another source, as described in the section Re-create data from another source into an Access table.

Set field properties in Design view    Regardless of how you lot created your table, it is a good idea to examine and set field backdrop. While some backdrop are available in Datasheet view, some properties can only be set in Design view. To switch to Design view, right-click the tabular array in the Navigation Pane and and then click Design View. To meet a field's properties, click the field in the blueprint grid. The properties are displayed beneath the design grid, under Field Properties.

To see a description of each field holding, click the belongings and read the clarification in the box next to the property list nether Field Properties. Y'all can get more than detailed information by clicking the Help button.

The following tabular array describes some of the field properties that are usually adjusted.

Property	Description
Field Size	For Text fields, this property sets the maximum number of characters that can exist stored in the field. The maximum is 255. For Number fields, this property sets the type of number that will be stored (Long Integer, Double, and and so on). For the virtually efficient information storage, information technology is recommended that you lot allocate the least amount of space that you lot call up yous will need for the data. Y'all can adjust the value up later, if your needs change.
Format	This property sets how the information is displayed. It does not affect the actual information as information technology is stored in the field. You tin can select a predefined format or enter a custom format.
Input Mask	Use this property to specify a pattern for all information that volition exist entered in this field. This helps ensure that all data is entered correctly, and that it contains the required number of characters. For help well-nigh building an input mask, click at the right side of the property box.
Default Value	Utilise this property to specify the default value that will appear in this field each time that a new tape is added. For example, if yous accept a Date/Fourth dimension field in which you always want to record the appointment that the record was added, you can enter "Date()" (without the quotation marks) every bit the default value.
Required	This holding sets whether a value is required in this field. If you set this holding to Yep, Access does not permit you to add together a new record unless a value is entered for this field.

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Copy data from another source into an Access table

If your data is currently stored in another program, such as Excel, you tin copy and paste it into an Access tabular array. In general, this works best if your data is already separated into columns, equally they are in an Excel worksheet. If your information is in a word processing program, it is all-time to separate the columns of data by using tabs, or to catechumen the data into a table in the give-and-take processing programme before you copy the information. If your data needs whatever editing or manipulation (for example, separating full names into starting time and last names), you might want to practise this before you re-create the information, peculiarly if you are not familiar with Access.

When yous paste information into an empty tabular array, Access sets the data type of each field according to what kind of data it finds there. For example, if a pasted field contains nil but appointment values, Access applies the Engagement/Time information type to that field. If the pasted field contains only the words "yep" and "no", Access applies the Yep/No data blazon to the field.

Access names the fields depending on what information technology finds in the first row of pasted data. If the first row of pasted data is similar in blazon to the rows that follow, Access determines that the first row is role of the data and assigns the fields generic names (F1, F2, etc.). If the starting time row of pasted data is not like to the rows that follow, Access determines that the first row consists of field names. Access names the fields accordingly and does non include the first row in the data.

If Admission assigns generic field names, you lot should rename the fields as shortly equally possible to avoid confusion. Use the post-obit procedure:

1. Press CTRL+Southward to save the table.

2. In Datasheet view, double-click each column heading, and then type a descriptive field proper name for each column.

3. Save the table again.

Note:You can too rename the fields past switching to Blueprint view and editing the field names there. To switch to Design view, right-click the tabular array in the Navigation Pane and click Design View. To switch dorsum to Datasheet view, double-click the table in the Navigation Pane.

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Import, append, or link to information from some other source

You might have information that is stored in another program, and y'all desire to import that information into a new tabular array or append it to an existing table in Access. Or you might work with people who keep their data in other programs, and you want to work with information technology in Access by linking to information technology. Either way, Access makes it like shooting fish in a barrel to work with data from other sources. You lot can import data from an Excel worksheet, from a tabular array in another Admission database, from a SharePoint listing, or from a variety of other sources. The process you utilise differs slightly, depending on your source, merely the following procedure will become you started.

1. In Admission, on the External Information tab, in the Import & Link group, click the command for the type of file that you are importing.

   

   For instance, if yous are importing information from an Excel worksheet, click Excel. If you lot don't see the program type that you need, click More.

   Note:If you tin can't notice the correct format type in the Import & Link grouping, you might have to start the program in which you originally created the data and then use that plan to save the data in a common file format (such as a delimited text file) before yous can import that data into Access.

2. In the Go External Information dialog box, click Browse to detect the source data file, or type the full path of the source data file in the File proper noun box.

3. Click the option that you lot want (all programs permit you lot import, and some allow you append or link) under Specify how and where you want to store the data in the current database. You tin can create a new tabular array that uses the imported information or (with some programs) you can append the data to an existing table or create a linked table that maintains a link to the data in the source program.

4. If a wizard starts, follow the instructions on the next few pages of the wizard. On the concluding page of the wizard, click Finish.

   If y'all import objects or link tables from an Admission database, either the Import Objects or Link Tables dialog box appears. Choose the items that you want and then click OK.

   The exact process depends on whether yous cull to import, append, or link information.

5. Access prompts y'all about whether you want to save the details of the import operation that yous just completed. If you remember that you volition be performing this aforementioned import operation again in the future, click Salvage import steps, and then enter the details. You tin so easily echo the operation in the time to come by clicking Saved Imports in the Import & Link grouping on the External Data tab. If you lot don't want to salve the details of the operation, click Shut.

If you chose to import a table, Access imports the data into a new table so displays the table nether the Tables group in the Navigation Pane. If you chose to append data to an existing table, the data is added to that table. If you chose to link to information, Access creates a linked table under the Tables grouping in the Navigation Pane.

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Add an application part

You can use an awarding part to add together functionality to an existing database. An application part can be equally simple as a unmarried table, or it tin can comprise several related objects, such as a table and a bound form.

For example, the Comments awarding role consists of a table with an AutoNumber ID field, a date field, and a memo field. You can add information technology to any database and employ it as-is, or with minimal customizing.

1. Open up the database to which you lot want to add together an awarding part.

2. Click the Create tab.

3. In the Templates group, click Application Parts. A list of available parts opens.

4. Click the application part that you lot want to add.

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Open an existing Admission database

1. On the File tab, click Open.

2. In the Open dialog box, scan to the database that yous want to open.

3. Exercise one of the following:

   • Double-click the database to open it in the default mode specified in the Access Options dialog box or the mode that was set by an authoritative policy.

   • Click Open to open up the database for shared access in a multiuser environment then that you and other users can read and write to the database.

   • Click the arrow adjacent to the Open button and then click Open up Read-Merely to open the database for read-only access and then that you can view but not edit it. Other users tin can even so read and write to the database.

   • Click the pointer next to the Open up button and so click Open Exclusive to open up the database by using sectional access. When yous have a database open with exclusive access, anyone else who tries to open up the database receives a "file already in use" message.

   • Click the pointer next to the Open button and then click Open Exclusive Read-Merely to open up the database for read-simply access. Other users tin can notwithstanding open up the database, but they are limited to read-just way.

Note:Y'all can direct open a data file in an external file format, such as dBASE, Microsoft Exchange, or Excel. Yous can also directly open up any ODBC data source, such as Microsoft SQL Server. Access automatically creates a new Access database in the same binder equally the data file, and adds links to each table in the external database.

Tips

• To open 1 of the most recently opened databases, on the File tab, click Contempo, and so click the file name for that database. Access opens the database by using the aforementioned option settings that it had the concluding fourth dimension that you opened information technology. If the list of recently used files is non displayed, on the File tab, click Options. In the Access Options dialog box, click Client Settings. Under Brandish, enter the number of documents to display in the Recent Documents list, upward to a maximum of 50.

  You can as well evidence recent databases in the navigation bar of Backstage view, for two-click access: 1) the File tab, 2) the recent database that you lot want to open. Well-nigh the bottom of the Contempo tab, select the Apace access this number of Recent Databases check box, and then adjust the number of databases to show.

• If you lot are opening a database by clicking the Open command on the File tab, you lot can view a listing of shortcuts to databases that you lot have previously opened by clicking My Recent Documents in the Open dialog box.

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Source: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/create-a-new-database-32a1ea1c-a155-43d6-aa00-f08cd1a8f01e

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