Page #253 (Microsoft Access 2002 Inside Out,Exploring What s New in Access 2002)

Some new features in Access 2002 are not specific to Access. Instead, they are implementations of new features in Microsoft Office XP. Many of the improvements in Office XP are geared toward improving the user interface-making the features easier to get to than in prior versions-and extending the overall functionality of the applications so that you can use them together more intuitively, with less duplication of effort. Those benefits, along with features that help users recover from system crashes and preserve important files, will make your work with Access easier as well.

Task Panes

Access 2002 replaces the earlier Startup dialog box with the new Office-wide task pane feature, and it's a welcome change. When you open Access, the Access task pane appears on the right side of the Access window, with the New File mode selected. The task pane displays a list of files you've worked with recently, to make it easy to reopen a database. The task pane also serves as a search pane when you click the Search button on the Access toolbar, and it lists available items to paste when you select the Clipboard mode by choosing Edit, Office Clipboard. Whatever task pane mode is selected, you can continue working in the Access window while you select the options you need from the task pane.

You can also create a new database, data access page, or project; create a database from a template; and (a brand-new option in Access 2002) create a database that is a copy of an existing database, to save you the trouble of importing numerous objects into the new database. Figure 1-1 shows the Access 2002 task pane as it appears when you open Access.

Figure 1-1. The task pane offers choices for opening or creating databases when Access is opened.

See Chapter 2, "Overview of Basic Access Features," for more details on the new Access task pane.

Smart Tags

Smart tags are a new feature in Office XP that do just what their name implies-they provide tags with links that lead to more information about a specific person, company, place, or thing. They provide a "smart" use of data by allowing you to share information when you're working with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft Internet Explorer. Access 2002 doesn't support smart tags directly, but you can use the tags in Word or Excel data that you import to or export from Access database tables.

For more information about using smart tags with Office XP applications, see Microsoft Office XP Inside Out (Microsoft Press, 2001), Microsoft Excel 2002 Inside Out (Microsoft Press, 2001), or Microsoft Word 2002 Inside Out (Microsoft Press, 2001).

Speech Recognition

Access now supports speech recognition for both voice dictation and command and control operations, allowing users to dictate text and navigate Access menus by using speech and voice commands. Speech recognition could be a wonderful boon to users who have difficulty using a keyboard or mouse-or for those users who simply want to cut down on unnecessary keystrokes.

For best results with speech recognition and dictation, you need a high-quality microphone. You should also be prepared to spend considerable time "training" the speech recognition software to understand your tone and phraseology. The effectiveness and functionality of speech recognition are sure to increase in subsequent versions of Office; for now, however, it's something worth trying if you ever find yourself with the time to experiment.

Speech recognition is not available in Design view for tables, queries, or diagrams in Access projects (ADP files).