Introduction to Access 2021

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hello everyone and welcome to this course on Access 2021 for beginners.
• 00:11 My name is Deborah Ashby and I'm a Microsoft IT trainer, and
• 00:15 I'm going to be your host for this course.
• 00:18 Now this is a course for the latest standalone version of Access, Access 2021.
• 00:25 But I will say the latest version is very similar to the last two
• 00:30 previous versions, so Access 2019 and Access 2016.
• 00:36 So if you have either of those versions,
• 00:38 you're going to find that 99% of the content is exactly the same.
• 00:42 Now this course is predominantly aimed at beginners, so
• 00:46 people who are brand new to Access.
• 00:48 And we're going to take it from the standpoint that,
• 00:51 you've never used Access before.
• 00:53 So we're going to start right from the beginning,
• 00:55 go over the basics and work our way up.
• 00:58 This course would also be suitable for people who have maybe had a bit of a play
• 01:02 around with Access, but are looking to really solidify those basic skills.
• 01:06 And we're going to cover so many things in this course, so what exactly is Access?
• 01:12 Well Access at its core is a relational database management system, so
• 01:17 what exactly does that mean?
• 01:20 Well in Access, we create tables to hold different data sets,
• 01:25 and we can create many different tables in access.
• 01:29 We can then link those tables together, so
• 01:32 that we can interrogate the data across all tables.
• 01:36 And then once we have all of our data tables set up in the background,
• 01:41 we can then create things like queries, forms and reports.
• 01:45 To help us search through the data, interact with the data and
• 01:50 report on the data.
• 01:52 Now, this course doesn't require you to have any database knowledge whatsoever.
• 01:56 As I said, we're going to start right from the beginning, building a basic table, and
• 02:01 then working our way up.
• 02:02 But to give you an idea as to what we're aiming for,
• 02:06 let's take a look at our finished database.
• 02:09 So this is the finished database, I don't have anything open yet.
• 02:14 But if you take a look in this little pane down the right hand side,
• 02:18 when we start this course this pane is going to be empty,
• 02:21 so you can see how many different items we're going to create.
• 02:24 We're going to create all of these tables,
• 02:27 we're going to create some queries, some forms and also some reports.
• 02:32 What we're not going to include in this beginners course are some of the more
• 02:36 complex items, so things like complex reporting, macros and modules.
• 02:40 Because the aim of this course is really to give you a good solid foundation,
• 02:45 from which you can build further intermediate to advanced skills.
• 02:49 Now if I double click to open what I've called the ticket maintenance form,
• 02:54 this is kind of what we're aiming for.
• 02:56 So the database that we're going to build in this course is for
• 03:00 a company called Tech Gurus, and they have a ticketing system.
• 03:04 So very similar to a helpdesk, so when their customers have some kind of
• 03:09 technical issue, they call them up and they log a ticket.
• 03:13 And this database manages all of those customers,
• 03:16 and all of the tickets that they log.
• 03:19 So you can see here we have the first ticket, and I can cycle through different
• 03:23 tickets, and various different pieces of information load into that ticket.
• 03:28 I can also add new tickets from here, if I need to log something new.
• 03:33 So this is a simple vault working database, and
• 03:37 this is what we're going to build in this course.
• 03:41 Now before we get going, just a couple of things I want you to note.
• 03:45 If you open up Access and go to file and into options,
• 03:49 I want you to make sure you have a couple of these options set.
• 03:53 So in the general tab make sure that,
• 03:55 your default database folder is set to somewhere that you can easily get to.
• 04:01 Because you're going to be diving in and out of this folder all the time.
• 04:05 And the last thing to mention here are the course files.
• 04:08 So for each lesson, there are course files and exercise files to download.
• 04:14 What you'll find for each lesson is a starting file, for example TechGurus33,
• 04:21 and also a completed file, so TechGurus33 complete.
• 04:26 So if you want to follow along with me, you have the file that I start with.
• 04:30 But if you get stuck or maybe get a bit mixed up, but
• 04:33 you still want to carry on with the course, you also have the correct
• 04:37 completed version of that course file, so you can start the next lesson.
• 04:42 You will also have included in each lesson an exercise so that you can
• 04:46 practice the skills that you've learned, along with an exercise solution.
• 04:50 So make sure that you have all of these course files downloaded into a folder,
• 04:55 and easily accessible.
• 04:57 So with all that said, it is time for us to get started.
• 05:00 I hope you're as excited about running through this course,
• 05:04 as I am about hosting it for you.
• 05:06 So grab yourself a drink, and I will see you in the first lesson.

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