Navigating Records in a Datasheet

Wanting to make changes to records after you’ve entered them is not unusual. You may want to change records for several reasons:

  • You receive new information that changes existing values.

  • You discover errors in existing values.

  • You need to add new records.

When you decide to edit data in a table, the first step is to open the table—if it isn’t already open. From the list of tables in the Navigation pane, double-click on tblProducts to open it in Datasheet View. If you’re already in Design View for this table, click the Datasheet View button to switch views.

When you open a datasheet in Access that has related tables, a column with a plus sign (+) is added to access the related records, or sub-datasheets.

Moving between records

You can move to any record by scrolling through the records and positioning your cursor on the desired one. With a large table, scrolling through all the records might take a while, so you’ll want to use other methods to get to specific records quickly.

Use the vertical scroll bar to move between records. The scroll-bar arrows move one record at a time. To move through many records at a time, drag the scroll box or click the areas between the scroll box and the scroll-bar arrows.

Tip

Watch the ScrollTips when you use scroll bars to move to another area of the datasheet. Access does not update the record number box until you click a field.

Use the five Navigation buttons to move between records. You simply click these buttons ...

Get Office 2007 Bible now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.