Microsoft Office 2000

Lesson 6: Access 2000 (Part 1)

Database Vocabulary and Parts of the Access Screen

Database Vocabulary
An Access database is made up of fields, records, and tables. If we were to create an address book database with names and addresses, each contact would look something like this:

Joe Smith
123 Main Street
Washington DC 20012

A table is organized into rows and columns. Each column represents a field and each row represents a record. The record for Joe Smith has a first name field, last name field, street address field, city field, state field, and ZIP code field. A record is created for each contact we enter, and these records together form a database table.

Let’s look at the parts of the Microsoft Access screen (see Microsoft Office 2000 for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide or click on the link below):

Diagram of the Microsoft Access Screen

Parts of the Access screen:

• Menu bar - listing of commands
• Access toolbar - most frequently used commands
• Table - holds the information in a database
• Form - allows the user to enter, edit and view information in a table one record at a time
• Object buttons - select database objects of tables, forms, reports, queries, macros and modules
• Database window - lists the objects in the database
• Record navigation buttons - display first, next, previous and last record, as well as current record number and total number of records
• Status bar - displays status information about the current task
• Mode indicators - shows special conditions in effect (e.g. Caps Lock Key)
• Office Assistant - provides online help and suggestions

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