Microsoft Access 2. Microsoft Access is one of those applications you either love or loathe. Some of the features are quite useful for smaller databases, like address books and CDDVD collections, but the 2. GB database file size limitation is constricting. The Office 2. 01. At Microsoft our mission and values are to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. Microsoft Access 1997' title='Microsoft Access 1997' />Access offers some improvements that make the application more usable, including reliability enhancements. This post will look at some of these new andor improved items to bring you an overall picture of just what Access 2. Web ready database format. The Web is the new desktop in some environments. The Access team took this into consideration and provided a Web ready format for databases. While previous versions of Access allowed publishing to the Web via scripting technologies to access the data, Access 2. Every two to three years, Microsoft unleashes a new version of its venerable. Software to add data from the Microsoft Access database into email, Word, Excel, PDF. Makes it easy to display formsubform. Mail merging. Just as any application, MS Access has specifications and limitations that should be remembered. The following tables specify the maximum sizes and numbers of various. Microsoft Access 1997' title='Microsoft Access 1997' />Web publication even easier by making use of the Web Database type. Macros. Another change to Access 2. Macros function more like SQL triggers. They can be launched conditionally based on actions taken within the database, which not only improves performance, but also can improve the user experience by allowing tasks to be automated. Figure AThe Access 2. Data Macro Environment. Themes. Office themes are supported in Access 2. When using a form in Access, you can apply a theme to it, similar to the way themes can be applied in Word and Power. Point. This will help keep the appearance of your forms unified across the application. Themes can also be applied to reports created in Access. Groups of fields. Access 2. 01. 0 changes the way that fields are added to the database by using a better list of fields to insert. The Data Type gallery replaces the Add Field task pane and contains all of the common field types for use in a database. One handy new feature here allows you to add certain groups of fields, called Quick Start selections, as a collection rather than adding one field at a time Figure B. For example, when you select the Address Quick Start, multiple fields are inserted. Address. City. CountryLocation. State. Zip. Figure BQuick Starts allow you to add fields as a collection. In addition to the data types already available in the Add Field fly out, you can add your own to the list. You can save selected fields as new, user defined data types. When saving fields for later use, you can categorize them under any section within the Add Fields fly out, with the default being User Defined. Figure C shows the Add Field option. Figure CAdd Fields from Data Type gallery. Reporting. Access 2. Defy Auto Dryer Manual there. To use or change the conditional formatting rules in a report, open the report and choose the Format tab on the Ribbon. Then, select the Conditional Formatting option. The Conditional Formatting Rules Manager Figure D lists the rules will be displayed. Just choose the field for which you want to addremovemodify formatting rules. The rules for the selected field are displayed in a box below. Figure DConditional formatting. Expression and Query Builder use Intellisense. Microsoft has included Intellisense in the Expression and Query Builder portions of Access. Intellisense helps complete the field names and other items you might use in these areas. This reduces the margin of error when working with queries and expressions, as well as the time spent looking up the spelling of field names in large databases. Conclusion. These are a few of the key features I have discovered when using Access 2. The biggest items by far for me are the macro changes and allowing them to function similarly to SQL Triggers. Access 2. 01. 0 also seems a bit friendlier than previous versions. Now if only we could get Microsoft to increase the 2. GB limit on file sizes.