Quick Queries #7
By Richard Rost
3 years ago
Hiding Access Interface, Runtime w Full Access, More!
Welcome to another Quick Queries video brought to you by Access Learning Zone. I am your instructor, Richard Rost. Quick Queries videos are designed to let me answer as many of your questions as possible! In today's video...
Topics Covered
- Try it Yourself!
- Not Print an Invoice Twice
- Hiding the Access Interface
- Press ESCape Key to Cancel Editing
- Cascade Deletes
- Multi-Language Support (French)
- Getting Assistance
- Using Runtime with Full Access
- Shift Bypass Key Not Working
- Why Don't I Use the Form Wizard
- Searching for Specific Error Messages
- Double Entry Accounting
- Loop Thru Controls on a Form
- Filter a Form
- Keyboard Shortcut Keys in Design Mode
- Move a Label Independent of Text Box
- Other Fantastic YouTube Channels for Access
- Caption Property for Reports
- Why I Don't Use Expression Builder
- I'm a Science Fiction Fan!
- No More Complete Idiot's Guides
- Penguin Books: Call Me! LOL
- Viruses or Unsafe
Other YouTube Channels
Previous Quick Queries
Links
Keywords
microsoft access, ms access, #msaccess, #microsoftaccess, #help, #howto, #tutorial, #instruction, #learn, #lesson, #training, #database, quick queries, qq, Try it Yourself, Not Print an Invoice Twice, Hiding the Access Interface, Press ESCape Key to Cancel Editing, Cascade Deletes, Multi-Language Support (French), Getting Assistance, Using Runtime with Full Access, Shift Bypass Key Not Working, Why Don't I Use the Form Wizard, Searching for Specific Error Messages, Double Entry Accounting, Loop Thru Controls on a Form, Filter a Form, Keyboard Shortcut Keys in Design Mode, Move a Label Independent of Text Box, Other Fantastic YouTube Channels for Access, Caption Property for Reports, Why I Don't Use Expression Builder, I'm a Science Fiction Fan!, No More Complete Idiot's Guides, Penguin Books: Call Me! LOL, Viruses or Unsafe
Intro In this Quick Queries video, I answer a wide range of questions about Microsoft Access submitted by viewers, covering topics like subforms, Long Text field limits, locking invoices after printing, custom unique identifiers, combo box sorting, using the AllowEdits property, and the pros and cons of Access wizards. I also discuss troubleshooting error messages, handling deleted records, best practices for modifying databases, tips for Access chart percentages, and issues related to running multiple Access versions. If you are looking for practical advice on common Microsoft Access questions, this episode has you covered.Transcript Welcome to another Quick Queries TechHelp video brought to you by AccessLearningZone.com. I am your instructor, Richard Rost.
In case this is your first Quick Queries video, this is where I go over all your questions sent in my forum, my YouTube channel, Facebook page, even though I am not a big Facebook fan. I answer the questions that either do not need a video of their own, or maybe I have already answered it, and I am just reiterating it because some questions I see over and over again.
So here we go.
Roberto Diaz wants to know, does this work in a sub-form? It does not matter what "this" is. Notice the video that I recommended to him, the Try-It video. What is that video? Well, to try it yourself. I am here to teach you how to learn Access. I want you to play with it. I want you to get your hands dirty. Get in there. Instead of asking me if it is going to work, try it. Try it yourself in the sub-form. Put it in a sub-form. See what happens.
If you cannot figure it out, then maybe post a question and say, I tried this in a sub-form and it did not work. What do I have to do? But experiment with this stuff.
I learned Access by tearing apart, well, from books firstly, but tearing apart that Northwind database that comes with Access. I got in there. What does this do? What does this button do? What does this little bit of code do? Try it yourself. You will learn much, much better if you figure things out for yourself instead of always trying to ask someone else.
If you try it and you are pulling your hair out for an hour and you still cannot figure it out, well, ask or do a Google search or something like that.
Next question comes from Malcolm Davidson. Malcolm asks, he is using the Long Text data type and he cannot update any more than 2,032 characters, the text field. What are my thoughts on this? Well, basically the form interface for a Long Text field, for a memo field, the text box, you can only edit 2,032 characters worth in a form. Even though the Long Text data type in the table can store lots of information, lots more than that, Long Text can store up to, I think, a gigabyte of information, but you are limited based on what a form can actually display and edit.
If you want to do more than that, you can import using VBA. You can programmatically put more text in there, but if you are going to edit it in the form, you are limited to that.
Afterthat, MiBorg asks, how can I lock an invoice after it is printed so I cannot print it again? What you are going to have to do, this is going to require a little bit of programming. What you are going to do is you are going to create a yes/no field in the order table that has "been printed" or whatever you want to call it. What I like to do is after the invoice has been printed, you are going to make a button that is going to print the invoice. Then in that button at the end of the code after the print, you could pop up a yes/no message box and say, did the invoice print successfully? Then if the user answers yes to that, then you are going to set that yes/no field.
Then if the user tries to click the print button again, read that value. And if it is already yes, then do not let them print it. That is that simple.
A couple of different videos to get you where you are going with this one. I would start here with the If Then video. Learn this. An If Then statement inside your button, read that field, see if it is true and then just exit out. If you still cannot figure it out after this, let me know. Maybe this one might actually make a decent little video. So if you still cannot figure it out, let me know. Maybe I will do a full video on this one.
Rebecca Klein says several of the top tier people I work with hate Access. I say that in quotes because the software systems they purchase are, wait for it, Access based. Apparently paying a vendor $6,000 a month is better than using an in-house system created by people who pull the specific data you requested. I admit I am a little salty about this. It just kills me to hear people trash on Access and then praise Access built programs because it is repackaged.
Yeah, I see this a lot. I have had a lot of developers ask me how to hide the Access interface so they can release their app without letting people know it is made with Access because there is a lot of bias out there. A lot of pro developers think that Access is a kiddie database when nothing could be further from the truth. You take Access and mix it with SQL Server on your backend and you have got a powerful solution that will rival pretty much anything.
Check out my splash screen video. I cover a bunch of different methods for trying to hide, making your Access database look like Access. And in the extended cut for the members, I have even more things you can do like turning off the ribbons, maximizing a startup form, creating an internal splash screen with a delay. There are all kinds of things so you can emphasize your branding but there is really no way you can completely 100 percent hide Access. If someone knows what they are doing, they will figure out that it is that. You can hide it from the casual user but the expert user will be able to tell it is Access. There is nothing to do about that. And there is nothing you should be doing. Be focusing on making it so that people do not think Access is a kiddie database.
Melinda Green asks, thank you for your amazing videos. They have been very helpful. My question is, as I type in the wrong information into a field by accident and hit tab to go to the next field, then I get the value in the field is invalid for this field. You would think you would click OK and it will go back to the field. Let me correct the mistake instead of the box. Does that go away no matter if I click OK or the X? The only thing that will get me out of this is to shut down the program and restart it, losing all that I was working on. Is there a way to get out of this loop without shutting down?
Yeah, just press escape on your keyboard. I know it is not intuitive. You would think that there would be a better mouse-based thing to do, but no, just hit escape. If you are typing something in, if you hit escape once, it will cancel editing that field. If you press escape a second time, it will cancel editing the entire record. And you should not have to shut down all of Access just to get away from an invalid value. All right, escape, escape key.
Jen Nardun asks, please create such a table in MS Access that stores deleted records if you delete record from a form connected with table two.
First of all, I am not a fan of deleting records. Try not to delete stuff. Customers, orders, those kinds of things. Do not delete them. Mark them not active or invalid or whatever. If you need to, if you need to archive old data, move it to a different table. All right, the only time I actually delete data is if it is temporary data. If it is something you really do not need to keep around, you know, like a perfect example I give is an email batch sending out a thousand emails for your special. Once they are sent, you usually do not need to keep those around anymore. But yeah, watch my video and do not delete data. All right, there it is. Do not delete data.
There are links to all these, by the way, down below in the description below the video. So you can just click on them instead of having to type stuff in.
Assuming that this is data that you want to delete, I would suggest using something called a cascade delete. So if you have got table one and you have got related records in table two and you want those to be deleted as well, if you delete the record in table one, that is called a cascade delete. You have to set up a relationship. I have a video on that. So watch this video on referential integrity. And in this video, I will talk about cascade deletes. And there is a link on this page to a separate video that I did on cascade deletes. But again, be very, very careful before using cascade deletes as you can delete stuff that you might not have intended to delete.
Music Man asks, I am using an attendance management system for fingerprint check-in/check-out, the software, and it is installed in French and everything works fine. But I cannot change the data field weekdays from English to French. Showing Sat, Mon, Sat, Sun, Mon, etc. Can you help me?
No, sorry. If there is one thing that I really do not know anything about, even with Microsoft Access, it is multi-language support. I am English and English only. Sorry. I know I have got a lot of students who do speak French and other languages. So hopefully someone else will see your comment and post a reply. But this is one thing I cannot help you with, sorry.
I took Latin in high school. So I know a little bit of some root words of some other languages, but English is the only language that I am fluent in and speak and write and all that stuff. So sorry, I am not your guy. I will apologize.
I get this one a lot, so it is worth reiterating here again. Lots of people ask me if I do help or consulting or private tutoring. No, I am sorry, I do not. All I do are these videos. I used to do private consulting, but I stopped doing it about two years ago. I just do not have the time. I would rather spend my time making videos where I can help thousands of people instead of just helping one person at a time. It is not about the money for me. It is about getting it out there and teaching people and making everybody able to use Access. The only projects that I will take on are projects that I can turn into a video. Some of my best seminars, in fact, started off as requests from customers. Hey, how do I do this? And then I turned it into a video or a course or something.
So visit the Ask page. You will see a link right there. I will put a link down below too. You will see lots of different options down here. Students can post in my forums on my website. Non-students, there is now a visitor forum on my website so you can post your questions there. I have got a great group of moderators on my website that do a fantastic job of answering questions and they usually get to it way before I do because I am very busy making videos and stuff. These guys crush it. These guys answer questions fast. So I love them. If they cannot get to it, then I try to step in when I can. So visit the Ask page if you need help and there are some different options available for you right there.
Jim says I recently created a database based on your instructions. Turned out awesome. Would you like to take a look at it? Jim, that is fantastic. I am glad you were able to build a great database. As a general rule, I do not accept file attachments. However, I would love to take a look at your database, post it on my website in the forum and post some screenshots to it. Do not actually upload the database file itself. I would rather see the screenshots. I am interested in seeing what my students have built.
Up next, Abraham wants to know if you can enter a person's client ID and if they have a file, it would pop up with their information. Yeah, sure. For that, I would probably do this. Make a search button. Put a search button next to whatever field you want to look up and click it. And if the person has a record, the record will show. There you go. Easy enough.
Jorge wants to know if it is possible to install the runtime edition of Access in addition to them also having the full version of Access installed. To the best of my knowledge, no, this is not possible. If you have got the full version of Access on a machine, you cannot install the runtime. They will not run together. I know that I have had some people that have, for example, 64-bit Office installed and they want to use the 32-bit runtime. Cannot do it. So if that is the case, you will either have to uninstall one or the other or perhaps use a virtual machine or something like Access Database Cloud or some other solution. So sorry, to the best of my knowledge, you cannot do that.
Diana wants to know how to create a unique identifier that is not an autonumber and make it a primary key.
First of all, if you want to make a unique identifier for a customer, for an order, whatever, that is not a problem. I have got a video here called Customer Code that will teach you how to make a unique customer code for each customer. This prevents the problem of a customer having ID number six or something like that or an order number ten, and then two weeks later they get order number twelve, so there is only one order in the middle. So you can make custom codes if you want to, but do not make this your primary key. You want to have that autonumber in your database. You want to have that as your primary key. You can hide it. You do not have to have it anywhere. You do not have to put it on your forms. You do not have to put it on your reports. Nobody has to even see them. But use that autonumber as your primary key because then Access will track keeping that unique and making relationships with it. Remember, that autonumber is not for you. It is for Access.
Go watch this: Autonumbers are not for you. Do not worry about the autonumbers. Make your own custom codes if you want to, that is fine. And that other video will show you how to do it. So leave the autonumbers alone. Do not bother them. Let them sit there. They will do their job quietly in the background and you do not even have to worry about them.
Alari says, I am not sure what version of Access you are using in your tutorials, but you may need to update them to the latest version. I use the latest version of whatever Access is available as of the time that the video is recorded. For example, this simple security video is about two years old, so it was probably using Access 2016 or 2019. I have a 365 subscription though, so I always have the most current version on my system. The tutorial, I assure you, does not have wrong information in it. If it did, I would get a million comments. So far, this video has about 59,000 views and trust me, if there is a problem with it, I would have gotten a thousand emails by now at least.
If someone says something is wrong, it is like when people tell me that a video will not play on my website. If a video is bad, which does happen, I get about 50 people within 10 minutes telling me there is a problem. So I guarantee you there is no wrong information in this security video. The security stuff in Access really has not changed much since 2007, so it is all correct.
Now the Shift double-click trick to bypass the opening. Basically you hold down the Shift key and then you open up Access using whatever shortcut you have for the database. That still works. That has not changed. But, and I talk about this in my full Security Seminar, there is VBA code you can use to bypass the bypass key. So if you are trying to open someone else's database and they have properly secured it, then you will not be able to open it with the Shift double click. That is a security measure you can implement. That will bypass the normal startup routine in an unprotected database. I am pretty sure that I mentioned that in the video.
I am not sure what you mean by the file save options are unavailable. And if you are doing something wrong, you just might need to learn more about security. So are you missing something? Probably. Maybe watch the video again. And of course, if you really want to learn all that there is to know about security and Microsoft Access, I do have the full Security Seminar which covers everything. It is several hours long.
Mahmood says I never see you using the form wizard or the report wizard, but I do not use this option. I just do not like them. I am just not a fan. I know that Access has them in there for beginners to be able to quickly make a form or quickly make a report. They are not my favorite wizards. Some wizards are good wizards, combo box wizards are good wizards. For example, command button wizards are good wizards for beginners, but the form wizard, I do not know, it takes me longer to remove all of the junk and the formatting that the form wizard puts in your form because I just do not like the way they look. It is more of a preference style for me. My job is to teach you how to use Access and in my opinion, that involves building your own forms, building nice custom forms the way you want. If you rely on the form wizard all the time, it is like gaudy wallpaper. I would rather teach you how to draw your own mural on a wall with nice paints than to use wallpaper. I just do not like them. That is just my preference.
Amira says I am getting this error: data type mismatch in criteria expression.
Let me stop you right there. I am going to save everybody some time. Whenever you get an error message, a specific error message from Access, what I want you to do is go to my website and search for that error message. All right, here is my website, data type mismatch. There it is: data type mismatch in criteria expression. Either one should get it for you. Here are all the search results. Scroll down. There is a Fast Tip for it already. Click on that and there you go. That will explain data type mismatch.
So instead of posting it as a question and having to wait, in this case, four days for me to get to it and I do not know how many more days until this video posts, just go search for it. Save everybody some time. You will get the answer right away instead of having to wait for someone to comment on it. And if it is not on my site, it is probably on Google. In fact, if that exact error message does not show up, scroll down and click here, Google search. It will search Google for that term on my website and you will see it. It pops up a lot. That is just my website. There are a lot of other great websites out there with a lot of great access information. So you get a specific error message, search for it.
In any case, to quickly answer your question, a data type mismatch means you have got the wrong kind of data when Access is expecting something else. For example, you are searching for a customer ID and you are sending it text or it is looking for text and you are sending it a date value. That is what a data type mismatch means.
Yasser asks, could you please create a simple double-entry accounting system for a small business? Oh, yeah, sure. Is that all? I am just kidding. Actually, I do have some plans for adding some double-entry accounting videos. Lots of people have asked me this over the last couple of years and it is in the works. First, I am going to be releasing a simple, like a personal finance kind of database that I have been using for myself for years. It does not do double-entry accounting, but it does a lot. And then I am going to be doing some double-entry stuff. So hopefully a little bit later this year, it is not coming up any time soon. I have a lot of other stuff on my plate first, but it is on the list.
For those of you that do not know what double-entry accounting is, it is simply that your business has multiple accounts in it. And a credit from one account equals a debit from another account. So let us say you pay a credit card, you will have a credit in your credit card account and you will have a debit in your checking account, let us say. That is just one real simple example.
I am not an accountant, but I have been running my own business for a few since 1994. So I know a little bit about accounting when it comes to small businesses. I do not know big business accounting though, I have never done the accounting for like a Fortune 500 firm, but I know how small business accounting works. And that is where I focus my efforts.
Manish says payment type should be cheque with a Q instead of check with a C as you stick it. No, no. In the United States here, it is check with a K. Too bad. I checked in with Merriam Webster, see what I did there? So check, check then. Yes, cheque with a Q is mostly used in Britain and of course, different areas of the world that used to be British. And it actually comes from the French. Cheque with a Q. So no, this is America. Here we do it with a K.
Fred is talking about my Lock Specific Fields video, where I show you how to lock one field after the value has been entered in it so someone else cannot modify it. He says, I block users from editing fields using AllowEdits equals false. However, there is a specific field that always must be available. Is there a way to do this with AllowEdits equals false or must I lock all the fields except that one?
Unfortunately, Fred, you must lock all fields except that one. The AllowEdits equals false is a form-level property. So once you set that in your form, none of the fields in that form will be editable. Same thing goes for AllowDeletions and AllowAdditions. So if you want to lock all but one field, then you have to lock all those fields with the Locked property for that field. You cannot do it at the form level.
In my Access Developer Level 22 class, I show you how to loop through the controls on a form using the For Each loop. So you can loop through all of the controls, check the control type, see if it is a text box, check box, whatever, and then lock it. You can use the Tag property to indicate which controls you do or do not want to lock. You could set a specific tag for that Yes/No field like "do not lock" or whatever. Then you can do it all with one simple loop instead of having to individually lock each field. So that is Access Developer 22. I will put a link down below.
Ryan wants to know if the error occurs if you use the Name statement. This is regarding my file names with weird characters. A little background. So a little while ago, I had a problem importing a file and that is because the file name had a weird character in it. I show how to get rid of that weird character using the FSO file handling, the File System Object. There is an older VB command called Name to allow you to rename a file. You could say Name "customer.txt" as "customer2.txt". To answer your question, yes, that is the first thing I tried, is to use the Name statement to rename the file, but the only way that I could get around it was the method that I show in the video. So, yeah, but thanks for trying.
Regarding my percentages in charts, the modern charts, Nikita wants to know if there is a way to get those numbers together. I am not happy with the modern charts. They are still half baked. Microsoft is still working on them. I cannot wait until they are finished because they have a lot of promise. If the charts have anywhere near the functionality that they have in Excel, then they will look really nice in Access. But as of now, no, you would have to put the number yourself, perhaps on a form in a field, not inside the chart. You could do that with a DLookup or a DSum or whatever other means you have to get that value. But you cannot put it in the chart, to the best of my knowledge, at least not today. But you could try a DSum or a DLookup. You could do the DSum right on your form below your chart and sum up whatever values you are having in the chart, and that will give you the number. You could just put a text box down there.
D. Grimsdale wants to know: combo box collects data from a table and thus is not in alphabetical order. How can I correct this? David, when you create the combo box, there will be an option in the combo box wizard, which is a good wizard, to sort the list based on whatever field you want that is in the box. So create the combo box again and make sure you pick the sort option. If not, you have to go into the SQL statement that is in the control source and add an ORDER BY clause. It is a lot more complicated. If you are a beginner, then just rebuild the combo box. Watch my relational combo boxes video for more help on that. You can see right here that list is sorted. Easy enough.
Nino says thanks to this video: never use split forms. Yeah, I do not like split forms. As I mentioned in the video, I just do not like them. Sorry.
The question though is, is it possible to create dynamic continuous form, one that changes based on your query or filter set? Yeah, sure. Check out my Search Form 2.0. What we do is you put some text boxes up top here and you can type something in and it will filter that form based on whatever your criteria are. That is much, much easier than using those pop up query criteria. So check this out. I will put a link down below for you.
Nick wants to know, is there a shortcut to move labels independently? Did you move something that you would like by clicking and dragging the gray box, but with arrow keys alone? In my case, I have eight labels I want to simultaneously nudge to the left with arrow keys without moving their associated text boxes.
To the best of my knowledge, Nick, no, there is not, aside from breaking away the labels from the text boxes that they are associated with. Here I have some labels. If I select all of these, if I use just the arrow keys, that moves them with the text boxes. If I use Shift+arrow key, you can resize just the labels, but it does not move them. Then I tried Control+Shift+arrow keys and it does the same thing, but smaller. Instead of going a whole block, it goes a pixel at a time. Then I tried Shift+Alt. I tried every key combination I could think of.
The only thing I could think of that would work would be to take these guys, cut them, and then paste them again. Now they are not associated with those text boxes, and now you can use the arrow keys to move them independent of the text boxes. But if you want to keep those as associated labels, because there are some benefits, like for example, you can do this, with a little ampersand size. But see now it is going to yell at you because this is not associated, because you have to associate this control, click, paste. It has to be associated for that shortcut trick to work. So I do not know, does anybody else know how to do that? If so, figure it out. There are millions of shortcut keys that these Microsoft guys have programmed in. I do not know all of them myself. I have experimented with everything I could think of, but I know I have never needed to do that before to be honest. I just use the mouse. I am not a big keyboard guy when it comes to design of the database. I am very much about using the mouse to lay stuff out and design it. But once we get into actually using the database and data entry, then I hate touching the mouse. Then I am all about the keyboard.
So I do not know a lot of keyboard shortcuts when it comes to design view, sorry. If anybody else has any ideas, let me know.
Sarah says, the MID function is not working for me. It gives you the last four numbers in the string and I cannot seem to figure it out. Was there an updated video on this? Or Access itself, it does not work.
Sarah, I do not know. Without seeing exactly what you have got going on there, I cannot tell what you are doing. The MID function has not changed in literally decades. It has been the same exact function. You tell it what string you are looking for, you tell it what position you want to start, and then you tell it how many characters you want to pull out of that string. It has not changed since I was a kid. So maybe you are doing something wrong. I do not know. I have to see it.
Post it in my forums on the website, you can use the visitor forum if you are not a member. Let me see some screenshots of what you have got going on there. Watch my updated string functions video that goes over these in a little more detail. I cover left, right, mid, len, and instr in this video. It is free. I will put a link down below for you.
But yeah, these functions have not changed in literally decades since the 90s. They have been exactly the same. So I do not know. I would have to see it to tell you what is wrong. This is one of those things where it is difficult to help when I am on this side of the computer and you are on that side of the computer. If I could sit down behind it and look at it, I would be like, oh yeah, this is what is going on. So the best I could do is screenshots. Send me some screenshots.
Stu says, I genuinely wish I could block everyone else on YouTube that does Access videos so that you would be the only thing that would come up in my search results.
Stu, you are such a sweetie. Honestly, if that is what you want, go to my website and use my search box. It will come up right there. Just like I showed in that previous segment, just go to my website, use the search box and search what you want there.
But honestly, there is a lot of, I mean, there is a lot of junk out there, I know. But there are a lot of other good people making YouTube videos and give them a chance, give them a try. Seriously, though, here are five of my favorites. These are channels that I watch whenever they release something new. Lots of great material on these other channels. These are just a few of my favorites. There are more. These are just the ones that are honorable mention.
Daniel Pineault, awesome videos, very knowledgeable guy, lots of techy stuff, same with Codekabinett. Two user groups, there are accessusergroups.org and there is the Denver area user group. These guys are awesome too. And one of my favorites, Karl Donaubauer, you have to watch his Access News and his musical talents are superb and very entertaining. I love Karl. So definitely try these channels out. I am not the only source out there. There is lots of other great material on Microsoft Access all over the web and YouTube. Of course, I will put links to all these guys down below.
Going back to that file names with weird characters video, I am just going down my comments list that I have not answered yet in order. So you notice these are going in reverse chronological order. So we are back to seven days. I try to do this at least a couple times a month. But I decided if I am going to take the time to answer, I might as well make a video about it.
Keith wants to know if you could loop through the file name, replacing any character 160 with 32. That is the weird character I was talking about earlier. Go watch this video, you will understand.
Keith, basically with the Replace function, you do not need a loop because the Replace function will replace every instance of a character with the other character that you specify. So when I change it from 160 to 32, essentially character 32 is a space character. So that is basically what I am doing; Replace will just replace any 160 it finds with a space character. Here is a video for you on the Replace function and how it works.
Cox wants to know if you can set a caption property on a report. Yeah, sure, reports do have a caption property, but you are not going to see it when you print the report. You will only see it in Access on the screen. If I go into my order invoice report design view, and I go to the properties for that report and go to Format, there is a caption property right here. I will just put in here "invoice." Save that, close it. Now it is going to look for an order in order to print it. If I go here to invoice, there it is, you will see invoice is the caption, but you are not going to see that in the report itself. Let me put something else in there so you can see it. Let's do "invoice" like that with a bunch of exclamation points. That is the caption. The caption will show up in Access, in the top of the window for that report, but it is not going to show up in the report anywhere. To do that, you have to put something in the actual report, in the report header or the page header or something. So does it have a caption? Yeah, sure, there it is, but it is probably not going to do what you think it is going to do.
S. Anthony says, I am looking to find out how to add something to a database that already exists. That is literally what every one of my videos covers. I am all about showing you how to modify your database. Now, if you are talking about you got a database from someone else, then that is all about whether or not you can get into the database. If you can modify it, if they sent you an ACCDE file, "E" as in encrypted, then you are not going to be able to make changes to it. So without knowing a whole lot more, there is not a whole lot of information I can give you except learn more Access, and then you will know how to add something to a database that already exists.
This one is not so much a question as it is a comment that I wanted to share. Brad says, "This is my second time through and I am still learning stuff I missed last year. My recommendation to students is have two screens: one to run the video and the second to build a database. Work your way through the database, start, stop, and rewind as needed following along. I do not type as fast as your instructions."
Yeah, some people say I go too fast. You have got a pause button and a rewind. But I do strongly recommend two screens. Most computers, I use laptops. Most computers nowadays have an HDMI output. Get yourself even just a small TV. It does not even have to be a monitor. TVs are cheaper and run the videos on that with an external setup if you can.
Back in the day, it was a Tuesday. When I first started this, back in 2002-ish, I recorded using really small windows for two reasons. Number one, I wanted people to be able to watch the video alongside being able to use Access or Excel or whatever the application was at the time. Reason number two was this was before high-speed internet. So I had to try to cram as many videos as I could on the CDs and DVDs and had to ship CDs. That was a pain. The window I recorded was like 480 by 250, a really small window. Of course, you could not see a lot of my screen, so people complained about that. But I switched to HD video, 1280 by 720, a couple of years ago. But if you have only one monitor and it is a smaller monitor, you really cannot see the video and work with Access at the same time.
So get a second monitor if you can. They are pretty inexpensive nowadays. Plug it in and run a two-monitor setup. I have a two-monitor setup on my desk and I love it.
But yes, Brad, thank you very much for sharing that.
John from Iowa was commenting on my align right for list box columns. He says he could use stars as the fill leaders, such as in a check, check with a K, mind you. Yes, definitely, absolutely. He says now converting the amounts to words is a different story. Well, I do have a function written for that. It is called my CurrencyToEnglish function and this is in the code vault for Gold Members and up. Ron, I know you are a Silver Member, so there is a reason enough to upgrade right there; it is four more dollars a month and you get Gold Membership, you get all the code vault stuff. This will take any currency amount like this and convert it into something else. There was a bug where it would round up to 5,000, but I fixed that a couple of years ago. It works really well. I also covered this in my Check Register Seminar. I will put a link to that down below. In the Check Register, I teach you how to take a check with a K and put the English words on it. That is where this function came from.
Ron also says, hope the puppies like where the bed is in the new place. Yeah, we have got two black labs, for those of you who do not know. We actually left them at the old house, so we would go back when we were moving stuff. We would leave them at the old house with all their beds and stuff. So we would have to go back there at night to sleep, and that was a pain. We finally, just a couple days ago, brought them over to the new house. They sleep in bed with us. They have got their own beds, but they do not care. While they are getting used to the new place, but they actually have a yard to run in now. One of the reasons we wanted to move was because we had a yard before, but it was not fenced in. Now they have a fenced-in yard. They can run around. That is good for them and we can play catch and stuff.
That is them. There are my spoiled brats. That is Carter on the left and Cooper on the right. Cooper actually has a Mohawk. It is really cool. He had it when he was a little puppy and he just kept it and he is now a year and a half old and he has still got his Mohawk. He is awesome.
Steven says he watched the video on auto text and he wants to know if there is a way to clear, what I am assuming you mean, the combo box after you pick a value. Yeah, just set the combo box value equal to blank or null.
He is talking about this video and we have a list of items over here. You could pick something like "attempted follow up date, a patient," whatever, and it will insert it into the notes field here. We are going to use this for correspondence. Here is the code from that box, in the After Update event, or I am sorry, the Click event. Down here, we look up what the auto text value is going to be from the table and then we set the notes field. Right after this, just say AutoTextCombo = Null or = "" (empty string), whatever you want, and that will blank it. Blank it, get it, blank it, make it blank.
Mitchell says in your queries, you type in the box, it sometimes gets long and you zoom it up for us, which is appreciated. Do you use the Builder button much? No, not really. This is one of those things where I started building queries before the Builder button existed and so I like to do it old school. Honestly, I think it just gets in the way. What he is talking about is down here, you can Shift+F2, zoom in, and you can modify your text here. There is also something right up here called the Builder button, which you can use to build statements, which I have never liked. I think it is easier if you just learn how to write this yourself personally because you can come in here and it will give you stuff, you can click and put it up there. I have always found the Expression Builder quirky. I just do not like it. You can use it to look up stuff, like functions or table fields, but it has never been my cup of tea. So, personal preference, I guess.
Trues and Sweets and Treats says at eight minutes, thirty-eight in this video, my align right video, I bring in a Star Wars reference of C3PO, almost, almost, almost. Everybody gives me crap because I am a big trekker, as you all know. I do not hate Star Wars. Growing up, I saw the original Star Wars in the theater and it blew my mind. Empire Strikes Back is one of the best movies ever made. I love Empire. Jedi was okay. I just keep seeing those Ewoks running around. That is where my love for Star Wars mostly ends. The prequel trilogy was awful, hated it. The new trilogy, it is okay, but it is the same story just rehashed. A teen in the desert finds the Millennium Falcon, is rescued by Han Solo, and so on. It is basically the same movie. It is okay, it is good. The effects are great. Mandalorian is fantastic. Boba Fett was okay. I liked Rogue One. So, I am a fan. I like Star Wars. It has just made some mistakes over the years, but I mean, still, Star Trek: Discovery I think is awful personally, but Strange New Worlds is fantastic, so I do not know. I am a science fiction fan, let us put it there. Science fiction and fantasy. Love me some Lord of the Rings, but I hated The Hobbit, the movies. I do not like the new series they got, Rings of Power or whatever it was. I take each thing on its own, but I will always be a Next Generation trekker for life.
Ronnie wants to know what is the best book for Access that I can recommend. I like Bibles, I am just after something which covers everything with screenshots and examples. I actually like the Access Bible. I am a big fan. Going back to the 90s, the Access Bible, all of the Bibles, in fact, are great books. I learned a lot from them when I was first learning. I have still got some of the old ones here on my shelf somewhere. I did a review of the Access 2019 Bible. I will put a link to it down below. I did a video review of it too, really good book.
I do not think that the Bible series is good to learn from if you are new to Access, but it is a fantastic reference material because most books are written with a depth first approach to the context. In other words, they cover a section on tables, they cover everything there is to know about tables in one shot. Then the next chapter is queries, now we are going to learn everything there is to know about queries. The depth first approach is great if you are looking for a reference book or you want to figure out more about a topic that you kind of know about already. I prefer a breadth first approach to learning when I am teaching my tutorials. In other words, I give you a little bit of information about tables, a little bit about queries, a little bit about forms, a little bit about reports. Then we go back and do more with tables, and then more with queries. I try to teach topics and give you a little bit of information here. Walk before you run. You do not need to know everything about cascade deletes and referential integrity when you are first learning about tables. So I think learning for beginners is a lot different from learning for developers.
Now, as far as beginner books go, I would like to recommend something from Alpha Books, which is owned by Penguin, because they are the publishers of my book, which is the Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Excel 2010, going back a little bit. However, I did a little search and as far as I can tell, they have not released a Complete Idiot's Guide to Access since 2000. So, guys at Penguin, if you are looking to release another Complete Idiot's Guide for Microsoft Access, I am your guy. Give me a call. But unfortunately, I did a little more research and I went to Penguin's website, and I did not see any computer books at all under the Idiot's Guides. Did you guys stop publishing computer books? It is all cool stuff, but I do not see any computer stuff. Did you guys stop?
I would like to recommend the Dummies books. I see there is an Access 2019 For Dummies on Amazon. I have not read this one. I do have some of the other Dummies books. I have got the Windows one. I have an Excel one around here somewhere, but I have not looked at this one yet, so I cannot say whether or not it is a good book or not. But if you guys are curious about my opinion, post a comment down below and I will buy a copy of this book and read through it and let you know what I think. I will do another video review if you guys want to see that.
Also, do not forget, most of my courses have handbooks too. I have handbooks that go along with most of my courses. You can read most of them online. You can print them out as PDF files. It covers all the stuff that I talk about in the video. I am working on making a more like a book book version of my tutorials. It is a slow process. Writing my Excel book took like all summer and it is basically the stuff that I cover in like two hours with a video. Writing a book is definitely a painstaking task. I had a lot of fun doing it, but it is a lot of work. But it is rewarding though when you walk into a Barnes and Noble and you see your book on the shelf. That was pretty cool. I loved that.
Steve said he tried adding one of my templates to his system and his antivirus software gave him a virus detected message. A little while ago, Thomas said that my website was flagged as potentially unsafe or not trusted by Total AV. Let me first say that I have had my website since 2002. We just celebrated 20 years and I have never in that 20 years had a virus on my site. Everything you can download from my site is an Access database or other type of template, like Excel or Word, that I created myself and I personally guarantee there are no viruses. Anything you download from my site is safe. I have never had a problem. I have never had any viruses reported.
I have had files of mine flagged by third-party antivirus software as potentially unsafe and my entire website. I have to say this: I do not like or trust third-party antivirus programs at all. All you need is Windows Defender. I guess they call it Windows Security now. That is it. I think third-party virus software is garbage. I uninstall them whenever I possibly can. I know in the past there have been reports of some antivirus publishers, and I am not going to name any names, actually hijacking people's systems and saying they have viruses and getting them to upgrade or pay for more protection when they did not need it. So I do not like it. Windows Defender is all you need, and Windows Defender has never flagged any of my stuff as potentially harmful. Get rid of any other third-party antivirus protection you have and you can tell them that I said so.
All right, so that is going to about do it for this episode of Quick Queries. I am going back through questions as much as I can as much as I have time for. There are still a whole bunch of older ones on there that I have not gotten to yet on my YouTube channel and I will get to them as I can. So hang in there, do not worry. You will get answered eventually, hopefully, maybe someday.
Do not forget you can also post questions on my forums. I get to my YouTube comments as often as I can, a couple times a month maybe, but again, I cannot stress how awesome the moderators on my website are. They do a fantastic job of answering people's questions and they get to them way sooner than I can. So if you have a question and you really need help, post it on the forum on my website, and if you are not a member or a student of mine, you can still post in the visitor forum. I will put a link to that down below.
That will be your Quick Queries for today, number seven. Hope you learned something.
Live long and prosper. We will see you next time.Quiz Q1. What is Richard's recommended approach when you are not sure if something will work in a sub-form?
A. Ask Richard before trying anything
B. Try it yourself in the sub-form and experiment
C. Only use forums for answers
D. Wait for someone else to make a video about it
Q2. When using a Long Text (memo) field in an Access form, what is the character editing limit in the form interface?
A. 255 characters
B. 4,000 characters
C. 2,032 characters
D. 65,536 characters
Q3. What is the best way to prevent an invoice from being printed a second time after it has already been printed?
A. Set a password on the invoice report
B. Use a yes/no field in the order table and control via button code
C. Delete the invoice after printing
D. Save the invoice as a PDF
Q4. What does Richard say about deleting records, such as customers or orders, from an Access database?
A. Always delete them to save space
B. Deleting is acceptable for permanent data
C. Mark records as inactive or move to archive tables instead
D. Automatically cascade delete related records without caution
Q5. What is a cascade delete in Microsoft Access?
A. Copying records from one table to another
B. Updating a record automatically when a related record changes
C. Deleting related records in child tables when a parent record is deleted
D. Making tables read-only
Q6. What is Richard's recommended way to escape from the "value is invalid for this field" dialog without shutting down Access?
A. Reboot the computer
B. Click the X button repeatedly
C. Press the Escape key once or twice
D. Open Task Manager and end Access
Q7. What does Richard say about completely hiding that an application is made with Access?
A. It is possible with custom add-ins
B. You can fully hide Access from all users
C. You can hide it from casual users, but not from experts
D. Microsoft discourages hiding the interface
Q8. If you need a unique identifier for a record that is not an autonumber, what does Richard recommend for the primary key?
A. Use the custom code as the primary key
B. Use a combination of name and date as the primary key
C. Always use Autonumber as the primary key and use custom codes for other purposes
D. Do not use primary keys
Q9. What can you do if you want only one field on a form to remain editable while the rest are locked?
A. Use AllowEdits equals false at form level
B. Lock all fields except the one you want using the Locked property
C. Hide all fields except one
D. Use AllowEdits equals true on one field only
Q10. What should you do if you receive a "data type mismatch in criteria expression" error in Access?
A. Restart Access immediately
B. Ignore the message and continue working
C. Check and correct mismatched data types in your expression or query
D. Delete and recreate the table
Q11. What is double-entry accounting as briefly described in the video?
A. Each transaction only affects one account
B. Every transaction must have a credit and a debit in different accounts
C. All records are deleted after every entry
D. Only expenses are tracked
Q12. What is Richard's opinion on using the Form Wizard for designing forms?
A. It is the best method for experts
B. It's quick and recommended for all users
C. It's not his preference; he prefers building custom forms
D. It is required for advanced database functionality
Q13. What is the purpose of the Replace function in Access as explained in the video?
A. Convert numbers to strings
B. Copy files between directories
C. Replace all instances of one character/value in a string with another
D. Add new fields to a table
Q14. If you want to sort the values in a combo box, what does Richard recommend?
A. Manually rearrange the table records
B. Add an ORDER BY clause in the combo box's row source
C. Use a macro to sort values after loading
D. Sort the records in Datasheet view only
Q15. According to Richard, if you have the full version of Access installed, can you also install the runtime edition?
A. Yes, they will run together
B. Only if they are different bitness (32/64)
C. No, they cannot be installed and run together
D. Only after uninstalling Office
Q16. If you download files from Richard's website and your antivirus flags them as unsafe, what should you do according to his advice?
A. Assume the files are infected
B. Only use third-party antivirus programs
C. Trust files from his site and use Windows Defender
D. Never download from AccessLearningZone.com
Q17. When trying to move labels independently from their associated textboxes in design view, what solution does Richard suggest?
A. There is a shortcut key combination for independent movement
B. Use only the arrow keys
C. Detach the labels by cutting and pasting them
D. Lock all textboxes before moving labels
Q18. What is Richard's recommendation for learning Access, especially for beginners?
A. Learn all advanced features first
B. Use depth-first study of tables, then queries, then forms
C. Use a breadth-first approach, learning a bit about each part before going deep
D. Only use video tutorials, never books
Q19. What should you do if you want a report to display a caption when printed?
A. Set the caption property in the report properties
B. Add a label or text box in the report header
C. Rely on the report's window caption
D. Change the report file name
Q20. When adjusting your learning environment, what does Richard recommend?
A. Only use small screens for convenience
B. Use two monitors if possible: one for the video and one for Access
C. Print out every video script for reference
D. Only use tablets for learning Access
Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-B; 4-C; 5-C; 6-C; 7-C; 8-C; 9-B; 10-C; 11-B; 12-C; 13-C; 14-B; 15-C; 16-C; 17-C; 18-C; 19-B; 20-B
DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.Summary In today's Quick Queries video from Access Learning Zone, I am responding to a wide variety of questions that have come in from viewers on my forum, YouTube channel, and even my Facebook page. For those new to Quick Queries, this series is a way for me to address your questions that may not require a video of their own or cover topics I have addressed before but warrant repeating because I see the same issues arise repeatedly.
Let me start with a question about whether something works in subforms. It honestly does not matter exactly what "this" refers to because my advice holds: rather than ask if a technique or feature works in a subform, try it out for yourself. Experimenting is one of the best ways to learn Access. If you run into trouble and cannot figure it out after spending some time on it, then ask for help and describe specifically what you tried and where it failed. My own Access learning started by exploring the Northwind database, poking around, and seeing what each button and piece of code did. The hands-on approach always helps you understand better.
Next, Malcolm asked about the Long Text data type and why you cannot update more than 2,032 characters in a text box on a form. Even though the Long Text (or memo) field in the table can hold a huge amount of information, forms in Access only allow editing up to 2,032 characters. You can get around this with VBA if you need to import or manipulate more text, but when using the form interface, you are limited to this amount.
MiBorg wondered how to lock an invoice after it has been printed so it cannot be printed again. The best way to accomplish this is with a little programming. Set up a Yes/No field in your orders table labeled "printed," for instance. After successfully printing the invoice, update this field to yes. Then, when someone clicks the print button again, check this flag and disallow printing if it is already set. You will want to protect against accidental flags, so maybe ask the user to confirm the print job completed before updating the field. If you need help getting the If Then logic in the button code, start with learning If Then statements and build from there.
On to a more general question: Rebecca commented that some people criticize Access, yet they use expensive third-party software that is actually Access-based. This is more common than you'd think. Many developers ask how to hide the Access interface from end users, because there is bias in the industry against Access as a "kiddie" database. In reality, when you combine it with SQL Server, it is very powerful. There are several techniques to minimize Access branding, such as splash screens and hiding ribbons, which I cover in my splash screen video, and more advanced tricks for members in the extended lessons. Still, a determined user will always be able to tell it is Access. The key is to focus on building so that Access' strengths are visible.
Another student, Melinda, encountered a frustrating issue: after entering incorrect data in a field and pressing Tab, an error message appears, and clicking OK or the X does not let you escape. The solution is simple: press the Escape key once to cancel editing the current field, and a second time to cancel editing the record. There is no need to shut down Access to exit this error loop.
Jen wanted to know how to store deleted records, or at least where they go when deleted from a form tied to a related table. My philosophy is not to physically delete important data such as customers or orders. Instead, mark them as inactive or archive them. For truly temporary data, it is fine to delete. If you need related records to be deleted, set up a cascade delete with proper relationships, but be very cautious as you might lose data unintentionally.
Music Man is trying to change weekday names from English to French in a fingerprint attendance system, but the software does not offer that. I have to admit, language localization is not my area of expertise; I only work in English. Perhaps another viewer can provide guidance for this multi-language scenario.
Many people frequently ask if I offer consulting, tutoring, or private help. The answer is no. My main focus is creating videos that benefit many people at once. If I take on individual projects, it is only when they can be turned into a tutorial for all to learn from.
Jim shared that he built a great database following my instructions and wanted me to look at it. I do not accept file attachments for review, but you are welcome to post screenshots in the forum so everyone can see and possibly offer feedback.
Abraham asked whether it is possible to enter a client ID and have the details appear if the client exists. Absolutely. Build a search button beside the appropriate field, and if the record is found, display the results.
Jorge inquired about running both Access Runtime and the full version on the same computer. In general, this is not possible. If you have full Access installed, you cannot also install the runtime. If you need both for some reason, consider using a virtual machine or a remote solution.
Diana wanted to know how to create a unique identifier for records (not using Autonumber), and make it a primary key. My recommendation is to use Autonumber for your primary key and, if you want a custom code, add an additional field for it. Leave the Autonumber as the primary key for Access to manage relationships and uniqueness reliably.
Alari brought up that some of my videos could be updated to show the latest version of Access. I always use whatever is most current at the time I record. The core concepts rarely change, especially in areas like security, and if a video ever had incorrect content, viewers would notify me quickly.
He also mentioned the Shift key trick to bypass startup routines. This still works, but advanced security measures can disable it using VBA. If you are interested in more, I cover that in my security seminar.
Mahmood noticed I do not use the form or report wizard much. That is true; although they are helpful for beginners, I find the formatting tedious and prefer to build custom forms by hand. For combo boxes and command buttons, though, those wizards can save time.
Amira ran into the "data type mismatch in criteria expression" error. Anytime you get a specific error in Access, always search for it on my website first. This error usually means that, for example, Access is expecting a number and gets text, or vice versa. The search box usually provides a quick Fast Tip video for your exact message.
Yasser requested a double-entry accounting template for small business. I plan on introducing a simple personal finance database soon, and eventually I will work up to double-entry accounting. For those unfamiliar, double-entry accounting means every transaction affects at least two accounts—a credit in one, a debit in another.
Manish noted that payment type spelling should be "cheque" instead of "check." In the U.S., we spell it "check" with a K. The spelling "cheque" is British and also used in other countries, but here it's "check."
Fred was working with field locking, specifically blocking edits to all fields except one. You cannot do this at the form level with AllowEdits; you will need to individually lock each field except the one you want editable, which can be streamlined by looping through controls and using the Tag property, as I demonstrate in my Developer Level 22 class.
Ryan followed up about renaming files with odd characters, referencing the Replace function. There is no need to loop through each character; the Replace function alone will do the job by substituting every instance you tell it to.
Nikita was asking about showing numbers and percentages together in modern charts within Access. Right now, modern charts are incomplete compared to Excel and do not support this feature directly. As a workaround, display the numerical value in a text box below the chart using DLookup or DSum.
David Grimsdale wanted to alphabetize combo box values. The easiest method as a beginner is to rebuild the combo box and select the sort option in the wizard. Advanced users can add an ORDER BY clause to the combo box's Row Source SQL.
Nino asked if dynamic continuous forms are possible (forms that update based on filters). Absolutely! The Search Form 2.0 method involves text boxes for criteria above your main form. Enter a value, and the form filters accordingly.
Nick inquired about keyboard shortcuts for moving labels independently from text boxes. There is not a direct way; breaking the label's association with the text box allows independent movement, but you lose some benefits of associated controls. Personally, I use my mouse for form design, but if anyone knows of a shortcut for this, I would be happy to hear about it.
Sarah mentioned difficulty with the MID function extracting specific characters from a string. The MID function has not changed in decades, so likely something is amiss in the way it is being used. If you post your code or screenshots in the forum, I or another student can help.
Stu commented that he would prefer only my videos when searching for Access tutorials. While I appreciate that, there are other excellent content creators out there. Daniel Pineault, Codekabinett, accessusergroups.org, the Denver Access User Group, and Karl Donaubauer all have quality material worth checking out. I encourage you to explore their channels as well.
Keith followed up on replacing specific ASCII characters in file names. Again, the Replace function takes care of this in one step; no loop is required.
Cox wanted to know about the caption property for reports. Reports do have a caption, but it only displays in the Access window title bar, not in the printed report itself. To have it visible on the report, insert a label or text box in the report or page header.
S. Anthony asked about adding features to an existing database. That is fundamentally what my courses teach—how to take your database further. If it is secured or sent as an ACCDE file, you may not be able to modify it, but otherwise, learning more Access will show you how to expand any database.
Brad shared a helpful tip: use two screens when following my tutorials—one for the video and one to work in your database. It is a great way to learn at your own pace and maximize efficiency. Nowadays, external monitors are inexpensive and easy to connect.
John from Iowa commented on aligning list box columns using fill leaders (like stars or asterisks) and converting dollar amounts to words. I have a CurrencyToEnglish function for this, which is available in the Code Vault for Gold Members and is also covered in my Check Register Seminar. Our dogs, by the way, are enjoying the new house and fenced yard.
Steven wondered how to clear a combo box value after selecting an auto-text entry for notes. Just reset the combo box's value to blank or null after the selection is made.
Mitchell asked if I use the Expression Builder much when writing queries. I prefer to type out the expressions by hand and use Shift+F2 to zoom in for easier editing, because I find the Builder quirky.
Trues and Sweets and Treats recognized a Star Wars reference in one of my Access videos and commented on my fandom. For the record, I am a science fiction and fantasy enthusiast in general, but Star Trek: The Next Generation will always be my favorite.
Ronnie asked for book recommendations on Access. I highly recommend the Access Bible series for reference, especially for intermediate and advanced users, and the Dummies series for beginners. My own book, the Complete Idiot's Guide to Microsoft Excel 2010, is out of print, but I encourage Penguin to consider releasing an updated Access edition. Also, I write handbooks that accompany most of my courses, which you can read online or print as PDFs.
Steve noted that antivirus software flagged one of my templates as suspicious. I have never had a virus on my website in over 20 years, and I stand by the safety of all downloads. I do not like or recommend third-party antivirus programs; Windows Defender is all you need in most cases.
That rounds out this episode. I am working my way through your questions as time allows, and the moderators in my forum do an amazing job answering as well. If you need help, post your question in the forum, whether you are a student or not.
You can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below.
Live long and prosper, my friends.Topic List Using Long Text fields and the 2,032 character edit limit in forms
Locking an invoice after printing using a Yes/No field
Creating buttons to print invoices and prevent re-printing
Setting up If Then statements in button code
Handling invalid value errors in forms using the Escape key
Archiving vs. deleting records in Access databases
Setting up cascade deletes and referential integrity
Sorting combo box data alphabetically
Entering a client ID to search and display existing records
Limitations of installing Access runtime with full version
Creating custom unique identifiers (customer codes)
Why to use autonumber fields as primary keys
Hiding Access interface elements (Splash screens, ribbons, startup forms)
Handling the "data type mismatch in criteria expression" error
Locking all fields except one on Access forms
Using the Locked property for individual controls
Looping through controls to lock using VBA (Tag property)
Renaming files with illegal characters using VBA Replace function
Setting and understanding the Caption property on reports
Clearing combo box values after selection
Navigating and editing labels and text boxes in form design view
MID, LEFT, RIGHT, LEN, and INSTR string functions
Using DSum and DLookup for values in forms and charts
Searching for error messages on AccessLearningZone.com
Issues with using modern charts for percentages in Access
Creating dynamic continuous forms with filterable search
Using Shift+F2 to zoom in queries
Using vs avoiding the Expression Builder
Using Order By in SQL for sorting combo box lists
Building custom forms vs using Form Wizard
Referencing popular books for learning Access
Dealing with antivirus false positives on Access templates
How to post Access questions and find help in community forums |
