One of the most powerful way of analyzing your data in access is by using queries.
Using a query is like
asking your database a question. A query can retrieve data from a single table or from multiple tables.
To create a query go to the create tab and then click the query design command. Then you will need to
select the table or tables you want to retrieve data from. Select the table you want to retrieve data from
and then click add. And then you can close the tables window. Double click each field you want to
include in the query. This can only be done with in the design view. Each selected field will appear below
in the design grid. Below the field names will appear the table row which shows which table each field
comes from. This is important when dealing which multiple table. In the sort row in the design grid you
can choose what field you want to sort with for example you can choose surname if the field is present.
Click below the desired field for sorting. If you click it, it will bring a dialog asking if you want to sort it in
ascending, descending or not sorted. Choose the desired sort style. You can filter in the criteria row
which is found below the sort row. If you want an exact match then the user has to put the words in
quotation marks. For example if you want to find information of all catholic university student you can
write catholic university below the ‘school’ field if there is any. You can also expand the results by typing
in the ‘OR’ row. For example if you want to add people who live in Blantyre to the results. You can add
type Blantyre in quotation marks below the location or city field if there is any. If you put them on the
same row then the data will have to have both criteria (catholic university and Blantyre) in order to
produce results. In some cases the user may want that but in this example it will not give us the correct
results. At this points the designing of the query is done now all you have to do is run it. Click the run
command in the design tab. The results will appear in datasheet view which looks like exactly like a
table. If you scroll through the results you will see that each person learn at the Catholic University or
lives in Blantyre according to our example. If you want to make any changes you can go back to the
design view. After everything the user has to save the query.