- What's New in Microsoft Office Access 2010: An Overview
- Changes to the Office 2007 Ribbon User Interface
- Security, Trusted Locations, Packages, and Certificates
- Access Web Databases and SharePoint Lists
- Application Development by Templates
- Access Macros Redux
- SQL Server 2008 [R2] Express Edition Setup
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Changes to the Office 2007 Ribbon User Interface
Other than replacing the Office button with the File tab and its Backstage View, Access 2010 made mostly cosmetic changes to Access 2007 Fluent UI. Access 2010 adds an improved UI in the Options dialog for creating new and customizing what Microsoft calls command tabs and groups. Optionally, click the New Tab to create a new command tab. With a new or existing ribbon selected in the right list, click the New Group button to add a new group, select a command icon in the left list, and, with the new group selected, click the Add button to add the new command icon.
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Figure 1.6 Adding a new command tab, group, or icon is a select-and-click operation in Access 2010.
Access 2007's Main Ribbons
Access 2010 has five main command tabs and ribbons. Press Alt to display the shortcut keys (called KeyTips) for each main ribbon, the Office button, and Quick Access Toolbar (1...n), as shown in Figure 1.7 (top). Press Alt+Key to display the second-level shortcut keys (see Figure 1.7 center and bottom). Many Access 2010 KeyTips differ from those of Access 2007, and group names and their members have changed.
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Figure 1.7 The top Home half-ribbon shows shortcut-key combinations to activate one of the five main ribbons (File, Home, Create, External Data, and Database Tools) or the Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).
Following are brief descriptions of the primary purposes of each main ribbon, which are largely unchanged:
- Home—Lets you select Datasheet, Form, Report, Layout, or Design view; perform Clipboard operations; specify font properties; format memo fields with HTML; and refresh, add, delete, save, sort, filter, find, and spell check records (refer to Figure 1.7).
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Create—Lets you create a new empty table or a table from a template in Datasheet view, or an empty table in Design view; create a SharePoint list and a table that links to the list; create a form or report bound to a table or query that's selected in the Navigation pane; and create a new query, macro, module, or class module (see Figure 1.8).
Figure 1.8 The Create ribbon's buttons and drop-down galleries enable adding new Access objects to your database.
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External Data—Lets you import, link, or export external data in a variety of formats; collect or update data via emailed HTML forms; save import or export specifications; work with SharePoint lists while offline; and move select objects or the entire database to a SharePoint site (see Figure 1.9).
Figure 1.9 The External Data ribbon has galleries for choosing the Import and Export data types.
- Database Tools—Lets you open the VBA editor for a module or Class Module; run a macro, create a shortcut menu from a macro, or convert a macro to VBA; open the Relationships window to create or edit table relationships; show or hide the Object Dependencies pane, property sheet for an object, or message bar; run the Database Documenter, Performance Analyzer, or Table Analyzer Wizard; move tables to a back-end Access database or upsize tables and queries to SQL Server 2005 or later [Express]; run the Linked Table Manager for linked Access tables; create or edit a switchboard with the Switchboard Manager; encrypt the database and set a database password; manage Access add-ins; and make an execute-only database by stripping out VBA source code (see Figure 1.10).
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Figure 1.10 The Database Tools ribbon's buttons perform their actions without the need for gallery choices.
Contextual Ribbons for Access Databases and Projects
Access 2010 has 16 different contextual ribbons, which contain buttons for commands that are appropriate to specific Access object contexts. With the exception of the Print Preview ribbon, all contextual ribbon tabs appear to the right of the Database Tools tab. Most of the contextual ribbons have minor changes to group names and command icon placements. Chapter 3 provides detailed descriptions of these ribbons and illustrates galleries, when applicable.
The Quick Access Toolbar
The Quick Access Toolbar (QAT) lets you create custom shortcuts to frequently used commands. By default, the QAT has three command buttons: Save, Undo, and Redo. The Undo and Redo buttons usually are disabled and sport Can't Undo and Can't Redo ToolTips.
Clicking the drop-down button to the right of the Can't Redo button opens a gallery of popular command buttons that you can add to the QAT (see Figure 1.11).
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Figure 1.11 You can add popular command buttons to the QAT and specify its location—above or below the ribbon—from its drop-down gallery. The Sync All command is new in Access 2010.
The File Tab's Backstage View
There's no conventional File or Tools menu, so the Backstage view that opens when you click the File tab handles many of those two menu's former tasks. If you've opened a database or project file, the gallery opens with an Info[rmation] pane. Click the View and Edit Database Properties list to open the Filename Properties dialog (see Figure 1.12).
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Figure 1.12 The Office gallery's default view is the Info page if you have a database or project file open; otherwise, it's a most recently used (MRU) file list.
Here's what happens when you click one of the gallery's following eight links and command buttons with an .accdb file open:
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Info—Opens the Information About DatabaseFile pane (refer to Figure 1.12). -
Recent—Opens a Recent Databases (MRU) list.
- New—Opens the Getting Started with Microsoft Office Access dialog, which lets you create a database from a local or downloaded template, open an empty database, or open a new ADP (refer to Figure 1.3).
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Print—Opens the Print pane that offers Quick Print, Print, and Print Preview buttons.
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Save & Publish—Opens a pane with options to save the current database or object as a new database or object; publish to as a web database to Access Services, save the database file in Access 2007, 2002–3, or 2000 format or as an Access Template (*.accdt file); package and distribute the database, package and digitally sign the database, make an execute-only database (*.accde file) with design mode disabled; back up the database; or save it to a SharePoint Document Library (see Figure 1.13).
Figure 1.13 The Save & Publish pane offers a variety of options for saving the database in various formats or publishing it as a web database with Access Services.
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Help—Opens a pane to access Microsoft Office Help, Getting Started help topics, links to Office Support pages, the Options dialog, and online Updates (see Figure 1.14).
Figure 1.14 The Help page contains links to obtain answers to users' questions. You can also open the Options dialog and check for updated Access 2010 files.
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Options—Opens the Access Options dialog, which lets you specify settings for Access 2010 and the current database (see Figure 1.15).
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Figure 1.15 The Options dialog's General page lets you specify optional settings for all Access databases you open.