How to Build Your First Database With Microsoft Access

by Sheeda Tali

Create a Table to Contain Item Information

First, launch Access and choose File, New. Since you’ll be building this database from scratch, choose 

Blank database.

Table1 will appear on the screen. Click on Click to Add, and enter details for the first two fictional 

employees: Type James, press Enter to move to the next column, and
type Smith. Press Enter twice to 

move to the second column of the second row, and type Peta, press Enter, and type Harrison.

The table has no column headers at this point, and you need to alter the design so that you can use 

employee ID numbers. To make these changes, click the View drop-down menu on the Home tab of the 

Ribbon toolbar, and select Design View. When the Save As dialog box appears, type Employees as the 

table name (in the tab beneath the menu bar) and click OK.

Once in Design View mode, type EmployeeID in place of the 'ID' field name. Press the Tab key, and 

in the Data Type drop-down list, choose Number. Change 'Field1' to read FirstName and 'Field2' to read 

LastName. Return to Datasheet View by clicking View, Datasheet View. Click Yes when prompted to save 

the table, and type the numbers 2011 and 2045 in the first column of the table.

Once the table is complete, save it by right-clicking the Employees tab and clicking Save.