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Friday, February 19, 2010 – Permalink –

Navigate Navigation Pane

Ahoy

Here's the Microsoft tutorial:

Meet the Navigation Pane

Also:

"We have heard a few of you have missed the ALT D shortcut to open an object in design. As you know, ALT in ribbon apps now allows you to access ribbon shortcuts. Next time you want to open an object in design view, try Control Enter."
Navigation pane tip

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access
Labels: Shortcuts, Tips

<Doug Klippert@ 3:05 AM

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Sunday, January 03, 2010 – Permalink –

Keyboard and Key Tips

Finger it out

2007 apps look different because of the ribbon, but the keyboard can still be used to speed up tasks.
Microsoft has an online course that may help

After completing this course you will be able to:
Accomplish tasks by using sequential shortcut keys, known as Key Tips, shown on the Ribbon.
Navigate around the Ribbon using the TAB key and arrow keys.
Accomplish tasks by using key combinations — keys you press at the same time - exactly as you've done in previous versions of Office.

Office.Microsoft.com/Training

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access
Labels: Shortcuts, Tips

<Doug Klippert@ 3:55 AM

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Friday, November 13, 2009 – Permalink –

Link to Office Documents from Access

Click to Word, PowerPoint, Excel

You can create hyperlinks in Access that jump to other Office documents. The process of specifying the document and the bookmark you want to jump to can be cumbersome.

There's an easy way to specify where in a Word, Excel or PowerPoint document that a hyperlink should jump to, without even having to open the Insert Hyperlink dialog box.

Open the target document and the Access table that contains a hyperlink field.

Select some of the text at the beginning where you want the hyperlink to jump.

Hold down the Ctrl key, drag the selection to the Access hyperlink field you want to set up.

When you release the mouse button, the previously selected text is used as the hyperlink text and the link becomes active.

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access
Labels: Shortcuts, Tables, Tips

<Doug Klippert@ 3:44 AM

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Saturday, May 23, 2009 – Permalink –

Compact-Repair Shortcut

Desktop convenience

You can make compacting and repairing databases easier by providing a desktop shortcut.

Right-click on the Windows desktop and select New>Shortcut from the shortcut menu. Then, set up a Command Line entry in the form:

"Path to Access.exe" "Path to Database.mdb" /compact

For example, to create a shortcut to compact Northwind, you might use:

"C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Msaccess.exe" "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office\Samples\Northwind.mdb" /compact

Click Next and continue through the shortcut setup wizard, naming the shortcut appropriately.

In Access 2000+, the database is both compacted and repaired when the /compact switch is applied.

Access 97 executes these processes separately, so Access 97 shortcuts should use a Command Line in the form:

"Path to Access" "Path to Database" /compact /repair

Also note that you can compact to a different location by specifying a target database name after the /compact switch.

If you omit a target file name following the /compact option, the file is compacted to the original name and folder. To compact to a different name, specify a target file.

If you don't include a path in target database or target Access project, the target file is created in your My Documents folder by default.

(Even though a shortcut will open the database without it, in order for the command line flag to work, you MUST include the path to the executable - Access.exe)

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access
Labels: Shortcuts, Tips

<Doug Klippert@ 3:31 AM

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Sunday, May 10, 2009 – Permalink –

Shortcuts to Access Objects

Quick way in

If you often work with a certain Access objects (specific forms, queries, etc.) in a database, you can create a shortcut to it on your desktop.

Click on the Object and drag it to the desktop..

Access will create the shortcut on your desktop, or another location.

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access
Labels: Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 3:18 AM

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Wednesday, April 15, 2009 – Permalink –

Date an Octothorpe

Date an Octothorpe

Some more of those things I'm sure I used to know

The keyboard combination of Alt+Shift+D inserts the current date in MS Word and PowerPoint. Ctrl+; (semicolon) does it in Excel and Access.

If you do not like the date's format, select a different one with Insert>Date and Time and, if you would like to make that permanent, click on the Default button in the lower left corner of the dialog box (in PowerPoint it's in the lower right corner).

In Excel, Ctrl+Shift +# formats the entry as day-month-year. Ctrl+1 will display the "Format cells" dialog box.

BTW, the "hash, pound or number" sign # is also called an "octothorpe".

The person who named it combined Octo for the eight points and Thorpe for James Thorpe.

"Bell Labs engineer, Don Macpherson, went to instruct their first client, the Mayo Clinic, in the use of the new (touch tone phone system). He felt the need for a fresh and unambiguous name for the # symbol. His reasoning that led to the new word was roughly that it had eight points, so ought to start with octo-. He was apparently at that time active in a group that was trying to get the Olympic medals of the athlete Jim Thorpe returned from Sweden, so he decided to add thorpe to the end."

While we're at it, the "backwards P, Enter mark" ¶ is actually named a "pilcrow".

The pilcrow was used in medieval times to mark a new train of thought, before the convention of using paragraphs was commonplace.

Also see:
Geek-speak names for punctuation marks

Wikipedia:
Punctuation

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access
Labels: Entries, Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 3:35 AM

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Thursday, February 05, 2009 – Permalink –

Other Right Clicks

A couple overlooked

Right-clicking on objects, such as Tables, Reports or Queries, gives you the opportunity to print, copy, and work with them.

There are other options revealed by right-clicking on the Database window itself.
Right-click on the empty white space of the Database window can lead to Relationships.

If you right-click on the edge of the window, you'll find a link to Access database properties, startup activity for the current database, or open a new database.

Right-clicking on the Database window also lets you configure the items in the Groups bar.

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access
Labels: Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 3:00 AM

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Saturday, January 31, 2009 – Permalink –

Kürzungen für jeder

Accessibility Shortcuts

Several resources are available to help increase speed and effectiveness for keyboard users. Here are keyboard shortcuts for leading Microsoft products that help save time and effort and provide an essential tool for some people with mobility impairments.

Internet Explorer 7/6/5/4

Office (2007/2003/XP/2002/2000/97)

PhotoDraw

PowerPoint

Producer

Publisher

Windows (Vista/2003/XP/2000/98/ME/NT)

Windows Media Player

Windows Movie Maker

Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005

Microsoft.com Keyboard Assistance.

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access
Labels: Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 3:25 AM

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Wednesday, February 06, 2008 – Permalink –

Quick Subforms and Subreports

Drag 'em on over

When you need to create a subform or subreport, you probably use the Subform/Subreport tool from the Toolbox to draw where you want to add the control.

You can also create subform and subreports using drag and drop.

Simply open the main form or report in Design view, then drag the appropriate form or report from the Database window to where you want the control created.

Note that you'll still need to set Link Child Fields and Link Master Fields properties on the new control.

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access
Labels: Forms, Reports, Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 7:03 AM

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Monday, January 07, 2008 – Permalink –

Copy Access Data to New Records

Fewer steps

The Paste Append feature is often overlooked in Access.

This feature lets you quickly create new records that copy existing information from other records.

To see one way to use the feature, open a table in Datasheet view.
While holding down the [Shift] key, select adjacent fields with data you want to copy. You can also select fields from adjacent records.
When you've finished, press Ctrl+C to copy the data.
Then, choose Edit>Paste Append (Paste>Paste Append in 2007)
Click Yes when Access asks for confirmation.

You'll now have an appropriate number of new records in the table that contains the information you copied.

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access
Labels: Shortcuts, Tips

<Doug Klippert@ 8:04 AM

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007 – Permalink –

Add Objects to the Query Grid

Easy additions

If you need to add a table or query to a query you're building in Design view, you most likely click the Show Table button, drag the appropriate objects from the resulting dialog box, and then close the dialog box.

However, there's a much easier way to do this.

Simply drag the table or query object's icon directly to the gray background of the query design grid. This same technique also works with Access's Relationships window.

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access
Labels: Queries, Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 8:04 AM

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Wednesday, October 03, 2007 – Permalink –

Update Data to Default

Just a keystroke away

You probably know that you can set up a default value for Access to enter into a field when a new record is created. This can be done in the Design view for a table or form by setting the Default Value property.

Unfortunately, you sometimes may set a default value after you've already entered records into the database. When you do so, the existing records aren't automatically updated to equal the new default.

However, if you're editing a record and you want to update the field to the current default, you can do so with a keystroke shortcut. To do so, simply select the appropriate field and press
[Ctrl][Alt][Spacebar]

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access
Labels: General, Shortcuts

<Doug Klippert@ 7:59 AM

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