Entering Data, Part 1

Lesson 6: Enter Data, Resize Columns, Zoom, Dirty

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In Lesson 6, we are going to learn about entering data in Access tables. We will walk through typing in a new record, talk about resizing columns, and look at how to enter different date and time values. I will show you how to use the Zoom window for larger fields and discuss what it means when a record is "dirty." Along the way, we will see keyboard shortcuts for efficient data entry and tips for handling fields like state, zip code, phone, and notes. We will also touch on default values, data formatting, and explain the difference between fields and records in Access.

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Prev: Lesson 05
Next: Lesson 07

Keywords

Access Beginner, enter data, datasheet view, design view, customer table, auto number, keyboard shortcuts, column resize, dirty record, zoom window, date time values, combo box, input mask, default value, hyperlink field, regional settings, format propert

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Intro

In lesson 6, we are going to learn about entering data in Access tables. We will walk through typing in a new record, talk about resizing columns, and look at how to enter different date and time values. I will show you how to use the Zoom window for larger fields and discuss what it means when a record is "dirty." Along the way, we will see keyboard shortcuts for efficient data entry and tips for handling fields like state, zip code, phone, and notes. We will also touch on default values, data formatting, and explain the difference between fields and records in Access.

Transcript

In lesson 6, we are going to learn about entering data into our tables. We will see how to type new records in. We will talk about resizing columns. We will look at different date time values. I will show you the Zoom window. We will discuss what dirty records mean.

In the last class, we built this brand new customer table. We have no records in it. So, let us go ahead and put some records in it. Double click on it right here. Then we will open it up in Datasheet View. If you want to get the most for your screen space, you can maximize this inside of Access. Now the table will take up the full area here in the object pane. Just like other Windows applications, you can restore it to normal size right there. I am going to maximize it.

If you want to go back to Design View to make design changes, the button is right there. You can click on Design View. See that - that is where we were before. There is Datasheet View. It is like Spreadsheet View. In Access, they call it Datasheet View. You can drop this down here and you can see the two of them right there: Datasheet View and Design View. Design View is where you build the table. Datasheet View is where you add data or edit data in the table.

Remember I said before I prefer building the table first and setting up the structure. Then we can go back and add data to it. Now the first field in your table is the customer ID. Remember, that is your AutoNumber. It has not been assigned yet. That is why it says "new". That number gets assigned as soon as you start typing the first character into the first field in your record. You cannot edit that. Access assigns it. You do not have to worry about it.

I am going to press the Tab Key to move over to the first name field. Personally, when I am doing data entry, I like to use the keyboard as much as possible. In fact, I have a whole series of keyboard shortcuts to enhance your data entry pleasure. I hate having to stop and grab the mouse when I am doing data entry. If I am typing in a bunch of stuff, use Tab to move to the next field. Use Shift Tab to move backwards. I will be teaching you little bits here and there. Do not try to learn too many shortcut tricks at once. I recommend in my videos you just do one a week. I will put a link down below to my shortcut tips. I will teach you a few here and there as we go along.

I will type in myself, Richard. Notice as soon as I do, customer ID number one gets assigned to me. See the pencil? The pencil means this record is what is called "dirty". Dirty means that the record is being edited and has not been saved to the table yet. While you are editing this record, those changes do not get committed or saved to the actual disk until you leave the record or close the table.

Press Tab to move to the last name field. Press Tab again. The next column says "Company Now". That means the column is too narrow to see the whole thing. I can click right there and widen it, just like in Excel. You can double click there and it will resize it as wide as it needs to be to fit all the data and the title in there. You will find there are a lot of similarities between Access and Excel as far as the user interface goes.

I will type in my company name, Access Learning Zone, and tab. If you want, you can double click there to widen that out. Next is the address field. I will type in my address now. If you want to see a bigger field, but do not want to have to widen all of these out, just leave that about there because I know addresses can be big. Shift F2 on your keyboard. Shift F2 opens up this Zoom window. We do not need to have it that big. Let us make it about yay big.

Zoom just means that you are zoomed into that field. Anything you type into here, when you hit OK, is going to go back in there. You can control the font and change those things. I will talk about that later. For now, I will just put in my address: 6,900 Daniels Parkway, Suite 29-122. Some people like to put the suite on a second line. Some people put it in an address field together. I am perfectly happy with that right there. So I will hit OK and notice it goes right back there into the address field.

I will hit Tab. I am in Fort Myers, Florida - FL. The last time I did this, I was still in New York. I am from Buffalo, New York originally. I moved down to Fort Myers, Florida at the end of 2013.

Now, talking about the state field, I personally prefer just to type in two digit state codes. For your United States customers, or if you are in Canada, you have two digit province codes. Depending on your country, your rules might be different. Yes, it is certainly possible to make this a drop-down list, also called a combo box in Access. I will talk about that in a future class. If you want to learn about combo boxes now, I will put a link down in the link section. You can go watch that now. See, this is nice that I have already re-recorded all these classes. I can just give you links to stuff to go watch.

But I recommend at this point, do not get ahead of yourself. Just go with me. Go with the flow. If you are a beginner, if this is your first time using Access, if you have a little Access under your belt and you want to skip ahead, I will put a link down below to my combo box lessons.

There are two kinds of combo boxes you can use. There is something called a value list, which is just a list of values that you give it, like a list of the 50 states, for example. There is also a relational combo box, which gets its data from another table. You would set up a second table that has a list of states in it. Both of those I will cover in future classes. If you really want to learn about it now, there are links down below. Let us move on to zip code.

My zip code is 33912. If you want to put a zip plus 4 in here, you can. We did not limit this to just five digits. That is completely up to you. Some people like to use a separate field altogether. Some people just put it together. Personally, I do not do a lot of mailing. The whole point of the zip plus 4 system is to give discounts to people who do huge volumes of mail. I do not. The five digit zip code is just fine for me. I do not even bother putting the four digit in. If you are the kind of company where you do business only in the United States, you can limit that to just five digits.

I will teach you in Access Beginner 3 how to set up something called an input mask, which forces them to type in data in the way that you want, in the format that you want. You could say, just give me five digits. If you are in Canada, you have six. You could change your format accordingly. We will cover that eventually. That is called an input mask or a format property. Again, I will put links to that stuff down below.

Part of my job as your instructor is to give you information in the order in which I think it is beneficial. I have been teaching this stuff almost 30 years now. This is how I want you to learn things. I am going to give you links so you can jump around if you are curious. But just stick with me. Right now, that is all you have to worry about - just type in the zip code. We will get to all that crazy formatting stuff later.

Now for country, I leave people in my home country, the United States for me, as blank. I do not bother putting a country in there. There is no need to put it in there for printing addresses or labels. I will leave that blank. If you are in Canada, leave Canadians blank. Whatever you want to do.

Tab. Let us slide over a little bit so you can see these fields here. You can use the scroll bar down the bottom there. If you do not know how to use a scroll bar, go take my Windows beginner class.

Website - for website, I am going to type in 599CD.com. Notice how it comes in as a hyperlink. If I move my mouse over it, you can see I get the little finger with the HTTP 599CD.com.

Why is it 599CD? It goes back to the beginning of my company. There is a whole story on the website of why it is 599CD. I will put a link to that down below too if you are curious. You can go read it. If you click on it, yes, there it is. Pops up. There is today's website. That is what it looks like today. There is me. Hi. I will just close that.

Now email address. We are storing it just as short text right now. You can store it as a hyperlink. In fact, in my older versions of this class, last time I did this in 2013, I did have my students save email address as a hyperlink. But I do not like doing that anymore.

In fact, here is the old video where I show how to do it as a hyperlink. I am not going to play this. But it causes problems. The way that Access stores hyperlinks internally, it is just a mess. If you want to do anything with that hyperlink, like if you want to pull out that email address and display it some other way, you have to jump through hoops. I find it easier just to store email addresses as text.

I will show you a trick later on where if you really want to launch your email program using that hyperlink, using that email address, you can. We will cover that in a future lesson. But I do not like storing email addresses as hyperlinks. Please do not.

So I will type in my email, amacronatgmail.com. There is my email address. Let me widen that a little bit and shrink that one down a little bit. Let us get the phone numbers.

Here in the United States, we have a seven digit phone number. That is a three digit area code, a three digit prefix, and then a four digit suffix. So 716-555-222. I am still stuck on 716. That is my Buffalo, New York area code, even though I live in Florida now, which is 239. But I always use 716 in my examples for some reason.

Again, once we get to that format property, I will show you how to format that with parentheses or hyphens or dashes or whatever you want. That is Access Beginner 3. We will get to that. For now, just store the digits.

I try to avoid letting people type in phone numbers in all kinds of different formats. Right now, the text field is wide open, so you can type in anything you want in there. For now, just get in the habit of typing in just the digits. I will show you tricks later on to clean up messy phone lists like this. You can remove the parentheses and the dashes and the dots and whatever other things people type in.

Eventually, in beginner level 3, we will type in an input mask, which only allows them to enter in digits. We will get to that eventually. For now, let us just type in the numbers.

If you do a lot of phone calling and you want to generate a query that says "show me everybody in the 716 area code," if you have a messy list like this, it is very hard to generate that query. So you want to keep all your data consistent.

I do not make a lot of phone calls. In fact, I do not even collect phone numbers anymore from my customers, so I never use the phone. I hate using the phone. I cannot stand talking on the phone. Everybody always asks me that: can I call you? Can we talk? I was in sales for many years and I cannot stand talking on the phone. I do not even like talking to my mom on the phone. I love talking to my mom, but I hate using the phone.

As far as database queries go, I am going to show you a string function later on where I can say, "show me the left three characters of the phone number field," and if it is 716, then do this. Give me the middle three characters. You cannot do stuff like that if your formats are not consistent.

What is up next? Number employees. One, just me.

Next is this count rate. I am going to type in 50, 50. We formatted that number as a percentage when we developed the table when we designed the table. Just so you know, internally, all that does is it multiplies the number by 100. So internally, that is actually stored as 0.5. That is significant. We will talk about that later when we start getting into math calculations and such.

Next up is the customer since field. Remember, this is a date time field. See the little calendar there and the calendar pop up. You can click on that and pick today's date. You can see today's date has a little bar. Click. See, 2/24/21. Or you can type a date in, 1/1/20. Or you can put a time in there, 6 p.m. Or you can put a date and time in there, 1/20 at 3 p.m. Just like that. When you do that, all these little pound signs, octothorpes as they are called, hash tag marks appear. That symbol has a million names. That just means that the data that is in there is too wide to be displayed. We just have to double click there to fit all that information in there. See that? But you could put a date or a time or both.

Here is a little keyboard trick for you: control semicolon pops today's date in there. If you type in a date without a year, you get the current year. So if you type in 5.5, you get 5.5.21. It is currently 2021.

I am in the United States, so I get month/day/year. That is based on your Windows regional settings. So if you are in a country where it goes day/month/year, which I think is more logical to be honest with you, then that will be based on Windows. Access stores that internally as a number. It just formats it based on your regional settings.

There are lots of different ways you can actually type in dates in here. You could type in "Feb space 1" and it gets February first. You could type in the whole month name like "May six" and it will get it. It is pretty smart. You can type in 24 hour time like military time, like 1500, and it will get 3 p.m.

Again, in level 3, I will show you how you can change that format to display whatever you want in whatever format you want. I cannot cover everything in one lesson, folks, so level 3 is where we do all the formatting stuff. In here, I will just put today's date. So control semicolon. There we go.

Everybody in my class always asks me at this point, is there a way to put a default date in there? So if you are entering orders in, for example, you will not have to keep typing in the order date. Yes, that is called a default value. Again, I have videos on that. I will put a link down below. Default values are covered in, guess which class, Access Beginner 3. That is a popular class, Beginner 3.

When it comes to two digit years, the cutoff date is actually set in Windows. For example, I am still using Windows 8 on this computer. This computer is a little bit older. If I type in 1/1/29, Windows assumes it is 2029. If I type in 1/1/30, Windows assumes it is 1930. In Windows 10, they have changed that. I believe the cutoff here now is 2049. So if I type in 1/1/49, I get 2049. If I type in 1/1/50, I get 1950. You can change that. I have a separate video. That is actually a Windows setting in your Control Panel. I have a separate video that shows you how to do that. I will put a link to that down below as well. That is not an Access thing. That is a Windows Control Panel thing.

You might want that number to be different based on whether you are a pediatrician or a geriatric doctor. Your two digit year might be based on the birth date of your patient. Depending on what you get more of, you might want to change it. The best way to handle that problem if you are not sure is to stick to typing in four digit years, honestly.

Next up is credit limit. I will type in 2000. Notice I have dollars because I am in the US. Again, that is a regional setting.

Next up is "is active". That is our yes/no value. You can use your mouse and click on it. Like I said, I hate having to stop and grab the mouse when I am doing data entry. I just want to fly at my fingers on the keyboard. Space bar will toggle that on and off as well. So you just use the space bar, then tab.

Next up is the notes field. You can type pretty much as much information as you want in a notes field - 65,000 or so characters. That is a lot. 64K worth of data, kilobytes. Again, shift F2 zooms in and you can type in whatever you want. "This guy is really cool. He is a Star Trek nerd and a Rush fan." Whatever. You can go for days. It goes right back in there.

While you are in the zoom window (shift F2), if you come in here and press enter, it gives you a new line. Older versions of Access did not do that. Enter was the same as pressing tab. You would have to do control enter to get that new line.

In fact, if you are in the field itself, let us slide over here. Let us say we widen this out. If you come in here and press enter, it does not give you that new line. If you come over here, you can actually make this taller like that. You can make these rows taller, just like in Excel. If you want to type in more stuff in here and press enter, you see it does not do what the zoom box does. You can come in here and type control enter and get the next line if you want to do that.

There is a way you can change that - it is called the Enter Key Behavior. I talk about that in a future class. That is something that you set in the form because you are not going to have your end users working directly in your tables. We have not talked a lot about that yet. This is just for us. We are the developer. We are setting up this database, putting some sample records in it. Your end user, even if that end user is you, you want to work with the data using forms. We will get to that in a couple of classes, a couple of lessons.

We are going to work on tables first, then some queries, then we will get to building forms.

Let us resize this table back where it belongs, right about there. That is fine. I can shift F2 to go back in here and make design changes if I want to for the zoom for the text inside of here.

Tab, and that will bring me down to the next row, the next record. Remember, let us try to use Access terminology. Columns are actually called what? Do you remember? These are fields. Columns are fields - the address field, the state field. The rows are called what? Those are records.

Try to use your Access terminology, not Excel. I know probably a lot of you have been using Excel for many years. It is okay. I know when I get your questions in my email and on the forums, you are all like, "I have got this column." No, it is a field. Let us use our Access words.

Another thing to notice now that I am down here: notice the pencil is gone. If I come back up here and start editing this, the pencil is back. That means this row is being edited. It is dirty. As soon as you leave that row, that record, the pencil goes away. That means Access has saved your changes to the database file. It has been committed to disk.

It is not like Excel where you have to constantly worry about saving your sheet. Access will save your data every time you leave the record or close the table. You only have to worry about hitting save, that control S that I showed you earlier, when you are making design changes - when you are making changes to the structure of the table or the query or the form or the report or whatever you are working on. The data gets saved every time you move from record to record.

One thing you might have noticed way over here to the right is this "click to add." They added this, I think in Access 2007 or 2010, where you can drop this down and add new fields right here. I do not like this. I do not like adding new fields while I am in Datasheet View. If you want to add or make changes to the structure of your database of your tables, go into Design View and do it in here. Just trust me. Just listen to what I am telling you to do. Do not come out here and hit the add button out here. That is the lazy way to do it. There are some real problems; I will talk about them later.

We have got one customer added to our table and in the next lesson we are going to add some more.

Quiz

Q1. What is the purpose of Datasheet View in Access?
A. To add or edit data records in a table
B. To create queries
C. To build forms
D. To set up table design

Q2. In Access, what is the proper term for a column in a table?
A. Column
B. Record
C. Field
D. Row

Q3. What does the pencil symbol next to a record indicate in Access?
A. The record is locked
B. The record is being printed
C. The record is dirty (being edited and not yet saved)
D. The record is protected

Q4. How is the Customer ID typically assigned in an Access table?
A. The user must type it in for each record
B. Access assigns it automatically as an AutoNumber
C. It is based on the date entered
D. It is generated from a list

Q5. What keyboard shortcut opens the Zoom window in Access?
A. Control Z
B. Alt Tab
C. Shift F2
D. Control Shift F2

Q6. What is the recommended way to move to the next field during data entry?
A. Press Enter
B. Press Space Bar
C. Press Tab
D. Use the mouse only

Q7. If you type data into a field and see octothorpes (###), what does that mean?
A. The record has an error
B. The data is too large for the field's width
C. The database is corrupt
D. The field is empty

Q8. What is a combo box in Access?
A. A type of report
B. A tool for generating relationships
C. A drop-down list to select values
D. A window for entering SQL code

Q9. When should you use the Design View in Access?
A. To edit or add records
B. To adjust table structure or field properties
C. To format form controls
D. To print reports

Q10. What is the best practice for entering phone numbers to support consistent queries?
A. Enter them in any format
B. Enter just the digits without formatting symbols
C. Use letters instead of numbers
D. Separate area code with a dot

Q11. In Access, what keyboard shortcut enters today's date into a date field?
A. Shift T
B. Control Shift D
C. Control Semicolon
D. Alt S

Q12. Where are default values for table fields set in Access?
A. In Datasheet View
B. In Design View
C. Using the Print Preview
D. From the Home ribbon

Q13. Which regional or system setting controls how dates are formatted in Access?
A. Access database property
B. Windows regional settings
C. Browser local time
D. Internet connection speed

Q14. What does it mean if a record is "dirty" in the context of Access?
A. It contains invalid data
B. It is being edited and changes aren't saved yet
C. It is hidden from view
D. It is marked for deletion

Q15. How do you toggle a Yes/No (Boolean) field using the keyboard during data entry?
A. Enter key
B. Escape key
C. Space bar
D. Tab key

Q16. What is the file-saving behavior for data entry changes in Access tables?
A. You must manually save every record
B. Changes are saved only when you close Access
C. Changes are saved automatically when you move to a new record or close the table
D. You must use Save As each time

Q17. In a notes (long text) field, what keyboard shortcut allows you to create a new line in the Zoom box?
A. Tab
B. Shift Enter
C. Control Enter
D. Alt Tab

Q18. What is the Access term for a row of data in a table?
A. Record
B. Field
C. Column
D. Index

Q19. What is the instructor's recommendation regarding adding new fields in Datasheet View using "Click to Add"?
A. It is the preferred way
B. It is suggested for beginners only
C. Avoid it; use Design View instead
D. Use it only for number fields

Q20. What is the main function of the Zoom window (Shift F2) in Access?
A. To edit SQL code
B. To zoom in on a table's structure
C. To make data entry easier for long text fields
D. To preview reports

Answers: 1-A; 2-C; 3-C; 4-B; 5-C; 6-C; 7-B; 8-C; 9-B; 10-B; 11-C; 12-B; 13-B; 14-B; 15-C; 16-C; 17-C; 18-A; 19-C; 20-C

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

Today's video from Access Learning Zone covers how to enter data into tables in Microsoft Access. We start with the customer table we created in the last lesson, which is empty at this point, and I am going to walk you through the process of entering your first record.

Begin by opening the customer table in Datasheet View. This view allows you to input and edit your data directly, much like working in a spreadsheet. You can maximize the window inside Access to make the best use of your screen space, and if needed, you can switch back to Design View to make changes to the structure of your table. Remember, Design View is where you set up the structure, and Datasheet View is where you enter and edit the information.

The first field we encounter is the Customer ID, which is set up as an AutoNumber. This means that Access will automatically assign a number to each new record as soon as you start typing data into any of the fields for that record. You don't need to enter it yourself, and you can't change it.

For efficient data entry, I like to use the keyboard as much as possible, making heavy use of the Tab key to move forward through the fields and Shift Tab to move backward. I'll be sharing shortcut tips as we go along, but don't try to master them all at once. It's best to pick up one or two at a time.

I enter my first name, Richard, in the first name field, and immediately Access generates the Customer ID. You'll notice a little pencil icon appear on that row; this means the record is "dirty." A dirty record is one that is currently being edited and hasn't yet been saved to the table. Your changes are only saved when you move to a different record or close the table.

After you land in the company field, you might find that the column is too narrow to display the full field name or data. You can resize the columns just like in Excel by dragging the edge of the column header or double-clicking to auto-size it.

Next, I fill in my company name, Access Learning Zone, and continue to the address field. When working with larger fields like addresses, you don't always need to resize your columns. Instead, pressing Shift F2 on your keyboard will open the Zoom window, which allows you to see and edit a large amount of text more comfortably. Anything you type in here will be saved back to the field once you click OK.

Moving on, I enter my city, state, and zip code. For the state, I just enter the two-letter code. It is possible to set up a drop-down list, called a combo box, for choosing states, but I recommend sticking to simple text entry for now. If you're curious about combo boxes, I have separate lessons on that, but try not to skip ahead if you're just getting started.

Zip codes can be entered as either five digits or with the extra four digits for the ZIP+4 format. The table isn't restricted to five numbers so use whatever suits your needs. In a later lesson, I'll teach you about input masks which can enforce a certain format in fields like zip codes or phone numbers.

Typically for the country field, I don't enter anything for customers who are in the same country as me. You can leave this blank for domestic customers if you like.

You can scroll horizontally to see additional fields if your table is wider than your window. For the website field, entering a URL will automatically make it a clickable hyperlink.

For email addresses, although Access can store them as hyperlinks, I recommend storing them as plain text. Hyperlink fields in Access can be messy to work with, especially if you want to manipulate the email address later. There are ways to launch your email program using a text field, which I'll show in a future lesson.

Phone numbers are a common source of inconsistency. Right now, the field will accept anything, but I suggest entering just the digits for consistency. This makes it much easier to work with phone numbers in queries later. We will get into formatting and input masks in more detail in another class. For now, just focus on keeping your data consistent.

For the number of employees field, enter the value appropriate for your customer. When you get to fields you set up with custom formatting, like the rate, keep in mind that Access stores percentages as their decimal equivalents. So entering 50% is actually stored as 0.5 internally. This is important to remember when you start using your data in calculations down the road.

For date and time fields like "customer since," you have a lot of flexibility. You can choose a date from the calendar, type in a date manually, or even include time. If you see hash marks instead of a value, it just means the column is too narrow and you should widen it. There are many ways to type in dates and times. For today's date, you can use the keyboard shortcut Control Semicolon. The way dates are displayed depends on your Windows regional settings, so in the US, that's month/day/year, but it will follow the format set in your version of Windows wherever you are.

When you type a two-digit year, Windows (not Access) controls the cutoff for which century is used. For instance, in Windows 10, entering '49 gives you 2049, while '50 would result in 1950. You can change this cutoff in the Windows Control Panel, but the safest option is to always enter four-digit years.

For currency fields like "credit limit," currency symbols are determined by your regional settings - so you'll see dollars, pounds, or euros depending on your setup.

The "is active" field is a yes/no or true/false value. Use the Spacebar to toggle on or off, instead of reaching for the mouse.

The notes field allows for a large amount of text, up to about 64,000 characters. You can use Shift F2 to get the Zoom window for easier editing. In the Zoom window, pressing Enter gives you a new line. If you want to add a new line directly in the field (without the Zoom window), you can use Control Enter. The default Enter key behavior can be customized, but that comes into play more when you're working in forms.

In this lesson, we're working directly in the table just to get some sample data entered. Later, I'll show you how to develop data entry forms for a better user experience.

You can adjust row height, similar to Excel, if you need more vertical space for data entry. At the end of each row, pressing Tab will move you to the next record. Remember, in Access, the columns are called "fields" and the rows are called "records." It's important to use Access-specific terminology. When you move off a row, Access automatically saves your data. You don't have to hit Save for your data itself - that's only necessary when you change the design of a table, query, or form.

You might see an option called "Click to Add" for creating new fields in Datasheet View. I advise against making design changes here. Use Design View for adding new fields or making any changes to your table's structure. It keeps things orderly and reduces the chances of errors down the line.

That's a full walkthrough of entering your first record in your customer table. In the next lesson, we're going to practice by entering additional records and exploring more features.

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

Entering data into Access tables
Opening tables in Datasheet View
Maximizing and resizing table windows
Switching between Design View and Datasheet View
Using the Tab and Shift Tab keys for data entry
Understanding AutoNumber fields
Identifying dirty records in Access
Column resizing and auto-fit in tables
Using the Zoom window (Shift F2)
Entering and editing address data
State and province codes for addresses
Typing and storing ZIP codes
Entering website addresses as hyperlinks
Entering email addresses as text fields
Consistent phone number data entry
Basic formatting for numeric fields (percentage)
Working with Date/Time fields
Using the calendar picker for dates
Keyboard shortcuts for entering dates
Effects of regional settings on date and currency
Navigating and editing Yes/No (checkbox) fields
Working with Long Text (Notes) fields
Using Shift F2 for editing long text
Entering multi-line notes in tables
Saving records automatically when leaving a record
Fields vs records (Access terminology)
Avoiding adding new fields in Datasheet View

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In this lesson, we will learn how to enter data into your Microsoft Access tables. You will discover how to add new records, resize columns, work with different types of date and time values, use the Zoom window for easier text entry, and understand what a "dirty" record means in Access.

Suppose you have just created a new customer table, and there are currently no records in it. To begin adding records, double-click the table to open it in Datasheet View. If you want to maximize your working space, you can maximize the table window inside Access, just as you would with any other Windows application. You can easily restore it to normal size if needed.

Remember, there are two main views in Access for tables: Design View and Datasheet View. Design View is where you define the structure of your table, such as which fields it contains, their data types, and properties. Datasheet View is where you actually enter and edit data, and it resembles a spreadsheet. You can switch between the two views using the buttons in the ribbon or the options in the view drop-down.

It is usually best to set up your table structure first in Design View, then switch to Datasheet View to enter sample data. The first field in your table might be something like CustomerID, set as an AutoNumber. AutoNumber fields are automatically generated and assigned by Access when you begin typing data into the record. You cannot edit these fields directly, and you do not need to worry about what value is generated.

When you are ready to start entering data, you can use the Tab key to move between fields, making data entry more efficient without constantly reaching for the mouse. Shift+Tab moves you backward. For example, begin by entering your first name, and notice how the CustomerID is automatically assigned as soon as you start typing. A small pencil icon appears at the left of the record. This pencil means the record is "dirty," or currently being edited, but not yet saved to the table. Access only saves your data when you leave the record or close the table. Until then, you can continue editing.

Move to the next field for last name, and again press Tab. If you see a column title like "Company Now" cut off, it means the column is too narrow to show all the text. You can click and drag the edge of the column header to make it wider or double-click and Access will automatically resize it to fit the widest entry or header. This works much like Excel.

Continue entering data, such as your company name, and proceed through the fields. For longer entries like an address, you do not have to make the column very wide. Instead, use Shift+F2 to open the Zoom window, which lets you type and view larger blocks of text conveniently. Type your address, for example: "6900 Daniels Parkway, Suite 29-122." When done, click OK, and your text appears in the field.

For fields like State, it is often best to use a two-letter state or province code, such as FL for Florida or NY for New York. While you can set up a drop-down list, called a combo box, to make selection easier, for now, just enter the code manually. The choice between a value list combo box and a relational combo box depends on whether you want the values to come from a list you provide or from another table.

For ZIP or postal codes, you can type five digits or, if needed, the ZIP+4 format. If your data entry needs require restricting the format, such as US ZIP codes with just five digits, you can set up an input mask later to enforce that rule. At this stage, just type in the data as it comes.

For the Country field, you might choose to leave the field blank for customers in your own country, such as the United States, to keep your data entry simple.

When entering a website, Access will often automatically recognize the format as a hyperlink. For example, entering "599CD.com" will turn it into a clickable link. For email addresses, it is better to store these as Short Text instead of as hyperlinks. Storing them as hyperlinks complicates things if you want to use or extract the email address later. Enter an email like "[email protected]" as plain text.

For phone numbers, consistency matters. While Access allows you to type in numbers in any format, for querying and filtering, it helps to enter just digits (for example, 7165552222). This approach avoids problems if you want to search by area code or apply formatting later. Eventually, you can use an input mask or string manipulation functions in queries to control or fix phone number formats, but for now, focus on consistency.

For fields such as Number of Employees or similar numeric entries, type the number directly. Percentage fields, if formatted as percentage types in your table design, can be entered as "50," which Access stores internally as 0.5, converting it automatically for display purposes.

Date and time fields allow for flexibility in entry. You can pick a date from a pop-up calendar or type the date manually. For example, you can enter just a date ("1/1/20"), a time ("6 PM"), or both ("1/20 3 PM"). If you see hash marks (####) in a field, it means the data is too wide to display, so simply widen the column. You can also use shortcuts, like Ctrl+semicolon, to insert today's date. The date format depends on your Windows regional settings - month, day, and year in the US, or day, month, and year in many other countries. Access stores dates as numbers and only formats them according to those regional settings.

It is important to know how Access handles two-digit years. Windows will interpret two-digit years based on a cutoff setting (for example, anything up to 2049 could be treated as 20xx, while 50 becomes 1950). You can change this setting in Windows Control Panel, but to avoid ambiguity, enter four-digit years.

Currency fields will display the currency symbol that matches your Windows region. Enter values directly, such as 2000 for a $2000 credit limit.

For Yes/No fields (Boolean), you can use the space bar to toggle the value while doing data entry, which is much faster than reaching for the mouse.

Memo or Long Text fields like Notes can store large amounts of text (up to around 65,000 characters). Again, for long notes or multi-line entries, use Shift+F2 to open the Zoom window. Within the Zoom window, pressing Enter creates a new line. If you are typing directly in the field and want to insert a new line, use Ctrl+Enter. You can also resize rows if you want to see more text within the datasheet.

As you work in Datasheet View, remember that columns are called fields in Access, and rows are called records. Using the correct terminology helps prevent confusion, especially if you have used Excel previously where these are known as columns and rows.

When you finish entering a record and move to a new row, the pencil icon disappears, indicating that Access has saved the record to the database. Data is saved automatically each time you leave a record, unlike Excel, where you must save the entire sheet manually. The Save command is only needed when making design changes to the structure of your table, query, form, or report.

You may see a "Click to Add" option at the right of your table in Datasheet View, which allows you to add new fields. While this feature exists, it is always better to switch to Design View for structural changes. Making structural edits through the "Click to Add" feature in Datasheet View can lead to problems later. Design View provides complete control and accuracy in defining the structure of your tables.

After entering your first customer record, you are ready to continue adding more. The process remains the same for each new record. Practice entering data, resizing columns, using the Zoom window, and try out the keyboard shortcuts introduced here to become more efficient. In the upcoming lessons, you will learn additional techniques and features to enhance your data entry and data management in Access.