What I would like to discuss now is opening one of the Microsoft pre-made database templates. So let’s close the database that you have open right now. Click on the Microsoft Office button and then click Close and you will see we get taken back to the Getting Started screen.
Microsoft has made available at least a dozen pre-made database templates that you can use. What I would like to do is actually use one of the local templates. So what I am going to have you do is click on the Local Templates option on the left side and you will see the word Contacts listed here, and if you hover your mouse over the Contacts, you will see this small little tool tip explain a little bit about the Contacts template. If you click on one of these icons, you will see the right task pane changes from the Recent Database Task pane to a task pane specific to that particular local template. As you see, you see a large graphic underneath, this is in the Business category, it’s the Contacts template, and underneath there you will see one or two sentences about that particular template.
Microsoft has designed these around specific topics and this one is about a Contacts template that you can use to manage information about people. Beneath those few sentences, you will see a File Name text box and in here, Microsoft has already determined a particular name for this specific database. You do not have to use this name, you can change it.
Next to the File Name is a button called the Browse button, and you can browse for a different location to save this database. Underneath the File Name, you will see where Access 2007 is going to save the template. Underneath the location, you will see this checkbox, and this checkbox says Create and Link your Database to a Windows SharePoint Services Site.
Windows SharePoint Services is a topic far beyond the scope of this particular series, but I encourage to do some studying with this topic, because Access 2007 has taken advantage of Windows SharePoint Services version 3 to be able to link and create list on a SharePoint Services site.
Beneath that checkbox are two buttons, Create and Cancel. You will see this word Create if you are using a local template. If you are downloading one from Microsoft Office, you will see the word Download, because you will need to download it and have an active Internet connection in order to do that. If you don’t, Access will inform you that you do not have a proper connection. If you change your mind and don’t want to use this button, you click the Cancel button. So I am going to click that right now, and you will see what happens. The Open Recent Database Task pane reappears and you can see all the templates again.
So let’s take this Contacts database template out for a quick test drive. Click Local Templates again, click on Contacts, and I am going to change this name. So I am going to type in Contacts 2007, and I would like to change this particular file location. So I am going to click the Browse button. I am going to save this on my desktop, so I can easily find it later. I am going to click on the Desktop and then I am going to click OK.
As you will see beneath the File Name textbox, now it says the Desktop location. Once you are ready to save the template, click the Create button, and in just a few seconds Access 2007 creates a new template and saves it in the particular location that you specified. Right now this one is being saved to our desktop. As you can see on screen, the template has opened up to a Contact List form. This database, you can use right out of the box, you can start entering data about some contacts that you have, you can modify it to your needs or you can just use it for study.
I encourage you to take out several of these templates and use them for study, so you can understand how some of the processes work with the various database objects, the tables, queries, forms, and reports.
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