How to Create a Switchboard in Access 2003

Microsoft Office Access 2003 has several tools that can help organize and sort through your data with a few clicks of your mouse---if you know how to use the tools. Do you wish you had an easy display that shows all of your most common actions? Do you want navigation to be easier for you and anyone else that needs to use the database? Consider a switchboard to make the data in Access easier to access.

Instructions

1. Open your Access database. Go to the Tools menu, chose "Database Utilities" and then choose "Switchboard Manager."

2. Select "New" to create a new switchboard. Name the switchboard and select "OK."

3. Select your freshly named switchboard and then choose "Edit "followed by "New."

4. Name the action you would like to perform by typing it into the text box. Choose the matching command in the box labeled "Command." If you want the switchboard to display your active vendors, type "Display Active Vendors" in the text box and choose "Open Form In Edit Mode" from the command box.

5. Follow prompts as necessary. For example, if you chose "Open Form In Edit Mode" as a command, Access will prompt you to choose which form you want to open. You would then choose "Active Vendors."

6. Continue to make new actions (following Steps 4 through 6) until you have added everything you need to use.

7. Click "Close" when you are done.