Building an Access Database From the Ground Up

In this series of Microsoft Access tutorials, we follow the database administrators for Patrick's Widgets as they build a Microsoft Access database from the ground up. Below you'll find the complete listing of tutorials in this series. If you'd like to work through these lessons slowly, but on a regular basis, the tutorial series is available as a free weekly e-mail course.

Part 1: Microsoft Access Fundamentals In this introduction to Microsoft Access, you'll learn the basics behind this powerful desktop relational database.

Part 2: SQL Fundamentals The Structured Query Language provides the foundation for all relational database systems. Join us as we explore the fundamental concepts behind this powerful language.

Part 3: Patrick's Widgets Scenario In Part III of our "Building an Access Database From the Ground Up" tutorial series, we begin looking at the Patrick's Widgets scenario that will be used in the remaining tutorial sections.

Part 4: Building the Relational Model In Part IV of our series, we begin putting pencil to paper and design the tables that make up the relational structure of the Patrick's widgets database.

Part 5: Creating the Database File In Part V, we create the Access database file that will be used for the Patrick's Widgets database.

Part 6: Adding Tables In Part VI of our Building an Access Database From the Ground Up series, we’ll build the tables necessary to implement the relational structure developed in Part 4 that builds upon the Patrick’s Widgets scenario from Part 3.

Part 7: Creating Relationships In Part VII of the tutorial, we'll create relationships between tables to complete our implementation of the Patrick's Widgets relational model.

Part 8: Data Input via Forms Part VIII of our tutorial introduces you to the concept of Access forms to input and modify data.

Part 9: Queries Queries are the heart and soul of data retrieval. In Part IX of our series, you'll learn how to build queries to retrieve information from an Access database.

Part 10: Reporting Once you have information stored in your database, it sure would be nice to get it back out again! Part X of our series explains how to use reports to retrieve information from your database.