MS-Access / Getting Started

Creating a New Empty Database

To begin creating a new empty database when you start Access 2010, go to the Available Templates section in the middle of the New tab and click Blank Database. The right side of the New tab changes to display the Blank Database task pane.

You can click Browse to open the File New Database dialog box, to select the drive and folder that you want. In this example, we selected the Documents folder in Windows 7 for the current user. Next, type the name of your new database in the File Name text box-Access 2010 appends an .accdb extension to the file name for you. Access 2010 uses a file with an .accdb extension to store all your database objects, including tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules. For this example, let's create a database with a table containing names and addresses-something you might use to track invitees to a party. Type Martin Party List in the File Name box and click Create to create your database.

Access 2010 takes a few moments to create the system tables in which to store all the information about the tables, queries, forms, reports, macros, and modules that you might create. Access then displays the Navigation pane for your new database and opens a new blank table in Datasheet view.

When you open a database (unless the database includes special startup settings), Access 2010 selects the object you last chose in the Navigation pane for that database. For example, if you worked on a table the last time you opened this database, Access highlights that object (a table) in the Navigation pane. Access also remembers the view and filters you applied to the Navigation pane. For example, if Tables And Related Views was the last selected view applied to the Navigation pane, Access will remember this the next time you open the database.

Because this is a new database and no objects or special startup settings exist yet, you see a Navigation pane with only one object defined. For new databases, Access, by default, creates a new table in Datasheet view called Table1 with an ID field already defined. However, Access has not saved this table, so if you do not make any changes to it, Access will not prompt you to save the table if you close it. The following sections show you various methods for creating a new table.

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In this tutorial:

  1. Designing Client Tables
  2. Creating a New Database
  3. Creating a New Empty Database
  4. Creating Your First Simple Table by Entering Data
  5. Creating a Table Using Application Parts
  6. Creating a Table Using Data Type Parts
  7. Creating a Table in Design View
  8. Understanding Field Data Types
  9. Setting Field Properties
  10. Nulls and Zero-Length Strings
  11. Defining Simple Field Validation Rules
  12. Defining Input Masks
  13. Defining a Primary Key
  14. Defining a Table Validation Rule
  15. Understanding Other Table Properties
  16. Defining Relationships
  17. Defining Your First Relationship
  18. Creating a Relationship on Multiple Fields
  19. Adding Indexes
  20. Multiple-Field Indexes
  21. Setting Table Design Options
  22. Creating a Default Template for New Databases
  23. Printing a Table Definition
  24. Database Limitations