What s New in Access 2003?

What's New in Access 2003?

Access 2003 is similar in look and feel to its recent predecessors, Access 2002 and 2000; for those of you upgrading from Access 2000, task panes will be new. Data is held in tables and can be directly entered into a table or by using a form. Data tables can then be related , which allows for the filtering and sorting of data using queries and reports .

Although Access 2003 does not sport a major makeover as some of the other Office 2003 applications do (such as Outlook 2003), improvements and enhancements have been added to this latest version of Access. Some of the enhancements to Access 2003 are as follows :

• Error Checking in Forms and Reports You can check controls in reports and forms using the new Error Checking feature. This feature is used in the form or report Design view and is discussed in more detail later in this lesson.

• Back Up and Restore Databases Access 2003 makes it easy for you to back up a database file. This allows you to protect your valuable data. You can then restore the database if necessary. Backing up and restoring a database is discussed in more detail later in this lesson.

• AutoCorrect Options Because database text entries are often peculiar unto themselves , you may not always want the AutoCorrect feature to correct certain text entries. An AutoCorrect Option button now appears next to text that is corrected by AutoCorrect, allowing you to quickly undo the correction.

• SharePoint Server Compatibility Other Office 2003 applications such as Word and Excel provide the Document Workspace feature, which allows you to store and share files on the Web using a Microsoft SharePoint server. Access also provides the ability to store tables on a SharePoint server and link to data lists on the Web.

Other new features related to using Access are covered in Part VI of this book. For an overview of new features in Office, see Chapter 1, "What's New in Office 2003?" in Part I of this book.