Database Reference
In-Depth Information
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Improved information sharing
Easily import and export data between Access and
other Office applications or .xml, .html, and .pdf files; create or link a database with
a SharePoint list; or publish your database to a SharePoint library and allow users to
update and extract information.
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Improved report design
Quickly create a professional-looking report, complete
with logo, header, and footer; and use Report view, combined with filters, to browse
only selected records in the report.
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Group, Sort, and Total pane
This feature makes it much easier to group and sort
data in reports, and add totals from a drop-down list.
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Enhanced security
Adding password protection to a database causes Access to
automatically encrypt the database when it closes, and decrypt it when it opens.
Working in the Access 2013 user interface
The program we work with and depict in images throughout this topic is a desktop installa-
tion of Access 2013, installed from a DVD as part of the Office 2013 suite of programs. You
might have installed Access 2013 as a freestanding program or as part of an Office 365 sub-
scription that allows users to install the desktop programs from the Internet. Regardless of
how you installed Access, the program has the same functionality and works the same way.
TIP
Office 365 is a cloud-based solution that small, midsize, and enterprise businesses can
use to provide a variety of products and services to their employees through a subscription
licensing program.
As with all programs in Office 2013, the most common way to start Access is from the Start
screen (Windows 8) or the Start menu (Windows 7) displayed when you click at the left end
of the Windows Taskbar. When you start Access without opening a database, the program's
starting screen appears. From this screen, you can create a new database or open an exist-
ing one. Either way, the database is displayed in a program window that contains all the
tools you need to create database objects and enter and manipulate data. The Access 2013
interface is designed to closely reflect the way people generally work with a database. If you
are not familiar with this interface, which was first introduced with Access 2007, here is a
quick description of the program window elements.
