Microsoft Access 2010 : Creating Your Own Databases and Tables - Building a New Table (part 1) - Building a Table from a Datasheet

You can add a new table to an Access 2010 database in several ways: You can design the table from scratch, build the table from a datasheet (a spreadsheet-like format), import the table from another source, or link to an external table.

Regardless of which method you choose, you should start building a new table by selecting the Create tab. The icons that appear enable you to create a table in Design view or to create a table by entering data (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Creating a new table.

Building a Table from a Datasheet

Building a table from a datasheet was very limited in earlier versions of Access. With Access 2010, you can do quite a bit while in Datasheet view. To use the datasheet method, follow these steps:

1.	Select the Create tab on the Ribbon.
2.	Click the Table button from the Tables group. A new datasheet appears, ready for you to design your table (see Figure 2). Figure 2. Building a table from a datasheet.
3.	Click to add a column. A drop-down appears with a list of the available field types (see Figure 3). Select the appropriate field type from the list. Figure 3. Selecting the appropriate field type.
4.	Enter a name for the field. Press Enter. The focus appears on the next field. At any time, you can refine the properties associated with a field. You accomplish the task with the buttons on the Fields tab of the Ribbon. For example, you can designate a field as Required or Unique (see Figure 4). Figure 4. Refining the properties of the fields in the table.
5.	After you have added all the columns and data you want, click the Save button on the QuickAccess toolbar. Access prompts you for a table name. Enter a table name and click OK.
6.	After the save operation is complete, click the View button on the Ribbon to look at the design of the resulting table.
7.	If you’d like, you can add a description to each field to help make the table self-documenting. Your table design should look something like Figure 5. Figure 5. The table design results from building a table with the datasheet method.

Adding descriptions to table, query, form, report, macro, and module objects goes a long way toward making an application self-documenting. Such documentation helps you, or anyone who modifies an application, perform any required maintenance on the application’s objects.