Chapter 3. Finding, Filtering, and Formatting Data

CHAPTER TASK: FILTER AND SORT INFORMATION IN A TABLE AND CHANGE THE APPEARANCE OF A DATASHEET

Prerequisites

• How to use menus, toolbars, dialog boxes, and shortcut keystrokes.

• How to open and modify database objects.

• How to add and edit database records.

As databases grow larger and larger, finding a specific record or group of records becomes harder and harder. Fortunately, Microsoft Access is equipped with an arsenal of Find, Sort, and Filter commands that can track down and organize a table's information in record time.

In this chapter you will learn how to use these commands. First, you'll learn how to use the Find command to look up a specific record. Next, you'll learn how to sort information in a tablein ascending or descending order. Then, you'll learn all about filters: How they can find and display only records that meet your criteria, such as customers from the state of Texas.

Once you've learned how to organize and sort all that information, you'll learn how to make it look more professional. This chapter explains how to format a datasheet to change its font and appearance. You will also learn how to freeze and hide columns in a datasheetan important task if you need to view large amounts of information.