Interactive, on-the-fly parameter queries add a huge amount of flexibility and power to run-of-the-mill static queries. Learn how to create your own using Microsoft Access.
Learn how to start building more complex database queries, such as comparative and action queries, using Microsoft Access.
Not sure which series of database tutorials on Geekgirl’s Plain English Computing is right for you, Databasics or Databases from Scratch? Here’s a quick description of their contents.
This third article in the Databases from Scratch series delves into the database heartland by exploring relational database design.
The second in a series of articles on choosing, designing and using a database program. This one covers simple table design.
The first in a series of articles on choosing, designing and using a database program.
Here are five useful tools and services to ease your work tasks, from handling PDFs to creating charts to replacing Microsoft Office in its entirety.
When you need to apply the same formatting to multiple parts of a Microsoft Word document, there’s no need to go through the same motions repeatedly. Word provides a smogasbord of techniques for formatting a bunch of elements in a document quickly and efficiently.
If you have a document open in Word 2007 or Word 2010 and you open another document, that second document is displayed in the same window as the first. To view the now-hidden first document, you can’t, as you might expect, swap between the two documents by pressing Alt+Tab…
The latest version of Microsoft Office comes in 32-bit and 64-bit flavours. It’d be natural to assume that if you have a 64-bit computer running a 64-bit version of Windows then you should install the 64-bit version of Office 2010. Not so. You’re almost certainly better off using the 32-bit version.
That’s because Microsoft has included little in the 64-bit version that you won’t find in the 32-bit version, with two exceptions…
In the previous tutorial I discussed some guidelines for creating data entry screens that are easy to use. In this tutorial, we’ll put those guidelines into action by refining the membership database we introduced in part two of this series. I’ll step through the process in Microsoft Access 2000 and Microsoft Access 2010. If you’re [...]
It’s a trivial task to sort your Outlook contacts: simply display them in List view and click any of the column headers. So, to sort by category, click the Category column header; to sort by name, click the Full Name column header. It’s an equally trivial task to sort your contacts by multiple criteria. Trivial, [...]
What makes a good spreadsheet? Two things: good design and good data.
This may sound obvious, but it’s all too easy to dive into creating a spreadsheet without putting much thought into its design. And a poorly designed spreadsheet is bound to make it harder to enter valid data. Without valid data, your spreadsheet will never yield useful results.
Good design doesn’t mean making your spreadsheet look good – although spreadsheet appearance can definitely aid in usability and readability. Good spreadsheet design consists of organising your data logically and ensuring that all your formulae are correct.
While word processing programs are the most commonly used office application and browsers are probably the most commonly used application of all, much of the success of personal computers is due to spreadsheets. In 1979, two blokes – Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston – developed the first spreadsheet. Their creation was called VisiCalc and it [...]
I sometimes wonder whether Microsoft spends so much on its programming budget it has little left over to spend on designers. This thought often crosses my mind when working with Office sample files, templates and styles. Take, for example, the auto-formats supplied with pre-2007 versions of Excel. Who designed these things? Not only are they [...]
It’s staggering how many shareware and commercial database applications have appalling data entry screens. Many developers seem to think that well-oiled inner workings are all that’s needed to sell an application, when any user knows that, when you get down to it, the interface is the app. When you’re designing a database application, you’re taking [...]