Tables are the heart of any database because they are where the actual information is stored.
And we're going to talk about how to add, edit, and delete information from a table.
In the Navigation pane, double-click on the table that you'd like to open… and tables
will be marked with a blue icon next to the name.
If you've used Excel, or another spreadsheet program, then you'll probably find tables
to be pretty easy to use, and they are very similar.
But there are some different terms that we use when talking about an Access table.
Each row is called a record.
In this table, every record contains a customer's name, address, and other information.
Each record will have a unique ID number, and this number cannot be changed.
So Jerrod Smith's number will always be 3, no matter what.
Each column is called a field.
And each field contains a different type of information.
For example, here we have fields for the Street Address, City, State, and Zip Code.
Just like in Excel, each box is called a cell.
If you want to change the information in a cell, all you have to do is select it, and
then type in the new text.
And let's say that this customer has a new email address.
After you edit the record, you can save it by clicking Save on the Home tab.
But whenever you click out of a cell, it's going to automatically save it for you.
So if you're making a lot of different changes, you don't have to worry about saving each
record.
But it is a good idea to save the last one that you're working on, just to make sure
that you don't lose any changes when you close the database.
If you are editing more than one record, you can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to
move between records.
Or, if you prefer, you can use the arrows on the Record Navigation bar.
You can also use the Record Navigation bar to create a new record.
And then type in the person's information.
If you want to delete a record, click the margin on the left side of the record… and
then on the Home tab, click the Delete command.
Now normally you should avoid deleting records because it can negatively impact the database
if other objects refer to the record.
For example, if we deleted a customer's record, it could cause the information in the Orders
Table to be incomplete.
But if you're just deleting a brand new record, then it's generally okay.
For some edits, you may want to use the Find and Replace option to make a lot of changes
at once.
I'm going to open up the Products Table… and on the Home tab, click the Replace command…
and let's say in some of our seasonal products, we want to change the word "Fall" to "Autumn."
Type in the word that you're looking for… and the word that you want it replaced with.
And we'll select Current document, so it will search throughout the entire table… and
we want to look for matches that appear in Any Part of the field.
Click Find Next to look for the word.
And it looks like the first instance of "fall" isn't referring to the season, so we'll skip
this one and find the next one.
And when you get to one that you want to change, click Replace… and just go through each
one and decide whether you want to replace it.
And generally you don't want to use Replace All because that doesn't give you the option
of skipping any of them.
So you should only use this option if you're absolutely sure that it won't replace anything
you don't want.
As you practice editing tables, keep in mind that most of your changes are saved automatically.
So to be safe, you may want to create new records to practice with.