Microsoft Access 2010 : Sharing Data with Other Applications - Importing Spreadsheet Data

12/21/2014 8:12:44 PM

You can easily import an Excel spreadsheet into an Access database. To do so, follow these steps:

Open the database into which you want to import the spreadsheet.

With Tables selected as the object type, right-click anywhere in the Navigation Pane and choose Import from the context menu. (Alternatively, you can select Excel from the Import & Link group on the External Data tab of the Ribbon.) The flyout menu appears.

Select Excel from the flyout menu. The Get External Data – Excel Spreadsheet dialog appears (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The Get External Data – Excel Spreadsheet dialog allows you to select the file you want to import.

Use the Browse button to select the Excel file that you want to import.

Specify how and where you want to store the data in the current database (for example, Import the Source Data into a New Table in the Current Database).

Click OK. The Import Spreadsheet Wizard appears (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The Import Spreadsheet Wizard enables you to designate whether you want to import a worksheet or a named range.

Select Show Worksheets or Show Named Ranges (Access does not display this step of the wizard if the spreadsheet contains only one worksheet), and then click Next. The Import Spreadsheet Wizard continues.

If you plan to import spreadsheet data on a regular basis, it is helpful to define a named range in the Excel spreadsheet, containing the data you wish to import. You can then easily opt to import the named range in step 6 each time that you execute the import process.

Finally, you shouldn’t give a control the same name as its control source. Access gives a bound control the same name as its field, and you need to change this name to avoid problems. If you fail to do so, and you reference the field in a formula for the control, #error# will appear on the report in the place of the data for that field. Following these simple warnings will spare you a lot of grief!

Select First Row Contains Column Headings, if appropriate (see Figure 3). Notice in the figure that the first row appears as column headings rather than data. Click Next. The wizard appears as in Figure 4.

Figure 3. Designate whether the first row of the spreadsheet contains column headings.

Figure 4. Designate the specifics of each field that you are importing.

Type the field name in the Field Name text box, if necessary.

10.

Select whether you want Access to index the field.

11.

Indicate whether to import a field by selecting the Do Not Import option for that field, if desired.

12.

Click in the field list to select the next field.

13.

Repeat steps 9–12 as appropriate for each field, and then click Next. The wizard appears as in Figure 5.

Figure 5. The wizard allows you to designate a primary key field.

14.

If your data has a column that is appropriate for the primary key, select Choose My Own Primary Key. Otherwise, select Let Access Add a Primary Key.

15.

If you opted to choose your own primary key, select the field from the drop-down box that you want Access to use as the primary key, and then click Next.

16.

Type the table name in the Import to Table text box.

17.

Click Finish.

18.

Click OK.

Others

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- Microsoft Access 2010 : Sharing Data with Other Applications - Importing, Linking, and Opening Files

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