Database Reference
In-Depth Information
PRACTICE FILES
To complete the exercises in this chapter, you need the practice files
contained in the Chapter10 practice file folder. For more information, see “Download
the practice iles” in this topic's Introduction.
Importing information
If the information you intend to store in an Access database already exists in almost any
other electronic document, it is quite likely that you can move it into Access without re-
entering it, by using the Get External Data wizard. With this wizard, the standard steps for
importing data into an Access 2013 database are as follows:
On the
External Data
tab, in the
Import & Link
group, click the button for the type
of source file you want to import, which starts the
Get External Data
wizard.
1
TIP
Clicking the Data Services button doesn't start the wizard. Instead, it opens the
Create Link To Data Services dialog box. A discussion of Data Services is beyond the
scope of this topic.
2
On the wizard's first page, specify the source file's location. Depending on the source
type, also specify whether to import the source file as a new table, to append the
source file's data to an existing table, or to create a linked table. Then click
OK
to
open the appropriate import wizard or open the dialog box necessary to complete
the next step.
TIP
If you want to import data into an existing table but the data structure isn't the
same as the table structure, it's often easier to import the data into Excel, manipu-
late it there, and then import it into Access.
3
Follow the instructions for selecting data from the source file, formatting the data,
choosing a primary key, and naming the target object. Then click
Finish
.
When the import process is complete, you return to the Get External Data wizard, which
gives you the opportunity to save the import steps so that you don't have to repeat them
for other similar import processes. To save the import steps:
In the
Get External Data
wizard, select the
Save Import Steps
check box to display
the settings necessary to save the process.
1
Name the saved import process, and enter a description (optional).
2
