Microsoft Access 2021: Designing Tables

Name: Microsoft Access 2021: Designing Tables
Author: John Varan

Learn what database tables are and how to design them in Microsoft Access 2021

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Course: On-Demand

Hello, welcome to Knowledge City's course on Microsoft Access 2021 Beginner. My name is John Varon, and in these lessons you will learn how to design tables. In this lesson, I will show you the parts of a database table. In Microsoft Access 2021, tables have some information, or metadata, that helps to define their behavior. This is separate from the rows of data stored in the table. The first and most obvious of these is the name of the table. By default, Microsoft Access names your table "Table1". If Table1 already exists then it names a Table2 and so on. There are several ways to change the name of the table. This first way only works if the table has one of the default names that Microsoft Access gave it. So let me create a new table here. And you see Access gave it the default name of Table1. It also opened the table in the data sheet view. Now if I right click on the table and choose Design View Access will prompt me to change the name of the table. You don't have to change it and can keep the default if you want, but Access gives you an opportunity to do so here. Whether you change it or not, click OK afterward. Clicking Cancel will not change a name but will also not switch the design view. By the way, this also works the same way if you had right clicked on the tab while in data sheet view. Since that way of renaming only works if the table has a default name, here's another way to rename a table regardless of what the name was. You can right click on the table while in the Object Viewer and choose Rename. this if the table is open in one of the tabs as you can see here. So first you will need to close the tab or save any changes and then rename it. This time it lets me rename the table, and I will give it a different name. There is also a keyboard shortcut for this. You can simply hit the F2 key instead of right clicking and choosing Rename. I hit F2, and I can go into rename mode here and rename it again. Besides the name, you can get to other metadata for the table by right clicking on the table name and choosing Table Properties. Here you can fill in a description for the table. This isn't used for anything by Microsoft Access, and it is only there to help you or other users of your table. You can also mark a table as hidden. If you do that the table won't show up in the Object Viewer list. So we can see it's no longer there. If you want to unhide it later you can right click in the title section of the Object Viewer and choose Navigation Options. Here, check Show Hidden Objects and hit OK. And as you can see the table will show up now but in a lighter color. This is because it is still hidden. We can repeat the same steps now to go back into table properties and uncheck hidden to get it back to normal. Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the next lesson where I will show you how to create tables.

Beginner Provider : John Varan 8 Lessons · 34m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Database design is both a science and an art. Proper database table design lies at the heart of creating an efficient and scalable database application. How do you design and create effective tables from scratch? What are some of the more advanced design options available in Microsoft Access 2021? What are the common types of table relationships found in a database?

In Microsoft Access 2021: Designing Tables, you will learn how to design, create, and manage new database tables, as well as how to use indexes to improve the quality of your data and improve your database performance. You will also learn how to design and use the three main types of relationships to join tables for better data integrity. You will also learn about the different types of indexes and how to create your own indexes on tables to enforce data integrity rules and improve the performance of databases. Finally, we will explore the three main types of table relationships, their uses, and how to implement each one.

What You'll Learn

Design, create, and manage new database tables from scratch in Microsoft Access 2021
Identify the parts of a database table and edit or delete existing tables
Create and use indexes to enforce data integrity rules and improve database performance
Distinguish the three main types of table relationships and their uses
Implement one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships to join tables for better data integrity

Key Takeaways

Proper database table design lies at the heart of creating an efficient and scalable database application.
Indexes can be created on tables to improve the quality of data and enforce data integrity rules while improving database performance.
The three main types of table relationships are one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many, each with its own uses and implementation.
Relationships are used to join tables for better data integrity.
Database design is described as both a science and an art.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to design, create, and manage new database tables in Microsoft Access 2021, how to use indexes to improve data quality and database performance, and how to design and use the three main types of relationships to join tables for better data integrity.

What topics does this course cover?

The course covers the parts of a database table, creating tables, editing and deleting tables, indexes, what table relationships are, and one-to-one, one-to-many, and many-to-many relationships.

What are indexes used for in this course?

The course explains the different types of indexes and how to create your own indexes on tables to enforce data integrity rules and improve the performance of databases.

What skills does this course help develop?

This course supports skills in Database Architecture, Database Design, Database Development, Database Modeling, Microsoft Access, and Relational Database Design.