The difference between Microsoft Access 20 is almost trivial (eg, a new quick-search feature, redesigned database templates). This tutorial will also work with Microsoft Access 2016. Every field has one datatype like text, number, date, etc. Datatypes: Datatypes are the properties of each field. The database file is saved to your hard drive or other storage devices.
Generally, most of the basic functions remain consistent between versions of Access so you should be able to follow along without any problems. Now in this Microsoft Access tutorial, we will learn about some important terms and basic objects in MS Access: Database File: It is a file which stores the entire database. If you're using a different version, the screenshots might look a little different. This tutorial uses Microsoft Access 2013.
If you don't currently have Microsoft Access installed on your computer, you can download it from the official MS Access website. accdb first using a pre-2013 version of Access. If you're unable to open an older database, you may need to convert to. mde extension, but in 2007, Microsoft started to phase these out in favor of the. This is the file extension you will use the most when developing Access databases. When you create (and save) a database in Microsoft Access, the database is saved with a. Access is much better suited for doing this compared to Excel. Once you start storing many attributes against each piece of data, and perhaps you find yourself repeating information across multiple worksheets, then it's time to start using Access (or another database system if you prefer).Īnother important reason for using Access over Excel is, if you need to generate a lot of queries and reports. It may be fine if you don't have much in the way of relational data across multiple worksheets. Well, it really depends on what you want to do with the data that you're storing and how much data you intend to store.Įxcel may be fine if you've only got a small amount of data, and if you don't have many attributes against each piece of data. You may be wondering what the benefits of using Access are compared with using an Excel spreadsheet.
Microsoft Access (or MS Access) is a software package that you install just like any other software package, and is bundled as part of the Microsoft Office suite. This tutorial focuses on the desktop solution. Having said this, Microsoft Access has included a web solution (as well as its desktop solution) since 2010, where it is integrated with SharePoint and, since 2013, SQL Server. Microsoft Access is a Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), designed primarily for home or small business usage.Īccess has traditionally been known as a desktop database system because its functions are intended to be run from a single computer (as opposed to a server database application where the application is installed on a server, then accessed remotely from multiple client machines).