Learn how to use the commands in Microsoft Access Database, Office menu. Explore the features of Microsoft Access database, Office menu.


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Video Transcription

What I like to show you next is the Office menu. The Office menu is located in the far left corner and this is Microsoft Office button. And if you click that button the Office menu will drop down. The Office menu holds most of the commands that you would see from the File menu on previous versions of Access. Once you open it, Access will keep the menu open until you select a command or close it. You can close it by clicking anywhere off the menu or by clicking the button second button. So, I am going to do that right now. You will see the Office menu collapses again. Access displays a list of recent databases on the right screen below recent documents. Right now I have my options set to display zero recent databases so that's why you do not see any listing on my screen. The first button on the Office menu is New. And if you click this button you will see it might ask you to save any particular database object you have open. I am going to click No right now. What happens when you click New is, you return to Getting Started screen and on the right side you will see the blank database task pane. Here you can begin to create a new blank database with new objects. I am going to click Cancel and Access returns me to the database I was currently working on. I am going to click the Microsoft Office button again, the second option is Open and if you click the Open button, Access opens the Windows Open dialog box. From here you can browse to a specific folder on your hard drive or a network location and open a different database. I am going to click Cancel here, click the Microsoft Office button again. The third button on the Office menu is Save. This command saves any changes to an open object you are currently working on and has the focus. The fourth button down is Save As. If you rest your mouse pointer on this option Access displays additional commands to the right. Any option on the Office menu that has an arrow pointing to the right will display additional commands on the right side of the Office menu. The first command saves a copy of the current object. The current object could be on object on screen or object that has the focus in the navigation pane. The next option down on my screen is PDF or XPS. This publishes a copy of the object as a PDF file. I have installed an Add-In for Microsoft that will allow me to export certain database objects to PDF or XPS files. If you have not installed this particular Add-In you probably won’t see this option on your screen. In the bottom half of this, you will see three options, Access 2007 Database, Access 2002, 2003 Database and Access 2000 Database. What this does is it saves you entire database into a different file format. If you need to have your users connect with an Access 2000 Database or an Access 2002, 2003 version Database you can convert this whole database into an older .mdb file format. The fifth option down is Print and this has three options to the right side. If you click the first option Print, Access opens the Print dialog box to print whichever object currently has the focus. Second one down is Quick Print. Quick Print also prints the current object, but does not display the Print dialog box for you to allow changes. The Print Preview option opens the object in Print Preview so you can see it on screen just before printing. The sixth option down on the Office menu is Manage. And to the right you will see three options here. The first option is Compact and Repair Database. This option performs a routine maintenance on the database to ensure data integrity. And as you are working with database objects saving changes, your database file will grow in size with temporary objects that Access saves. If you click this option Access will reduce all those temporary objects out of the memory. The second option down here is Back Up Database. If you click this option you can create a backup of your entire database file to a different location if you like. Third option down is Database Properties. The Database Properties dialog box will allow you to review and change property spec