MS Access users lend a hand?

Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
W

witz1976

Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2009
Messages
2,144
Location
Bucksport, Maine, USA
I know some of you guys are an absolute wiz with this, so perhaps you can lend a hand.

My UMaine marching band alumni group is having challenges trying to keep a database of old marching band members so we can easily sort, make labels to send out snail mail and e-mail, as well as updating the data base. Currently it is in an MS Excel file.

I know there is a way to design a database by access that will solve these issues, however a lot of people do not own access so I am trying to figure a way to make it so everyone can use it.

If you think you can help please pm me or post a reply and I will pm you.

Thanks!
 
Signed-In Members Don't See This Ad
Even with Open Office, anyone that wants to use or view the database is going to need a copy of it or MS Office.

It has been a while since I did development work in Access, but at the time, once you developed the database you could create a "stand alone" version of the database that could be given to anyone and they could read it. In other words, you save the database in a format that includes a viewer.

Like I said, that was several years ago, but I would imagine that the feature still exist, and in fact is probably improved upon.
 
hi
try using one of the sample databases that come with it, there are biz customer/contact types. just go into design mode,relabel the fields you want, set the visible property to no on the ones you don't want, rearrange them, drag them around to suit yourself then using the query wizard you can pull pretty much whatever you want for it. there are wizard for mailing labels.
don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to
 
rsulli16 said:
hi
try using one of the sample databases that come with it, there are biz customer/contact types. just go into design mode,relabel the fields you want, set the visible property to no on the ones you don't want, rearrange them, drag them around to suit yourself then using the query wizard you can pull pretty much whatever you want for it. there are wizard for mailing labels.
don't reinvent the wheel if you don't have to
Click to expand...

I have done this, however for people to access the database they still need Access.

I believe Mypenbox is an MS Access type database that was turned into an executable file. Parhaps I am wrong...but anyway thanks for the help so far.
 
It's been a while since i worked in MSAccess, but basically you need to create an executable, but you cannot build an "exe" file from an "mdb" file. To do what you are
asking, you must have the MS Office Developer Suite that has the
"RunTime" Packager software to produce standalone, royalty-free MS Access
databases. This runtime database can be used on computers without the full
version of MS Access installed.
 
This approach will not work for everyone, but I would put it on a web server with mySQL and write PHP pages to perform all the functions I wanted it to do. That makes it 100% portable and cross-platform.

I consider myself proficient (but not expert) in Access, and (in my opinion) PHP/mySQL just as easy or easier to learn.
 
There is a couple of possible answers.. However... The first question is how many 'copies' of this data do you want around? If you make this in access or excel - the biggest problem is how to update and distribute the lastest version and to make sure that you don't have people with old copies that they are working from.

I would strongly consider the possibility of either a web list OR a google document. With a google doc, you could still control the list and allow it to be downloaded for mailing lists, etc.
 
Great ideas. So here is the current issue:

we have an exsisting excel file with names, addresses & other info, however some people are missing info. So this makes it challenging when we try to search for an individual based on a certain criteria (city or state for instance)

This also poses a problem when we try to print address labels as we would get about 30% of the list without addresses, or ones that are wrong.

While only 1 or 2 people would be in charge of updating the info, in case someone needed the data we could hand out a read only version.

Perhaps Access would be the wrong program for this?
 
> some people are missing info
You don't have a software problem, you have a data custodian problem.
Fix that before you worry about switching from Excel.
Then, start with a google document or something similar.
Then, if you need to, go to a database with a web front end.
 
Personally, I would not use excel for this. Access is the easiest to use for all your needs.

Consider alphageeks idea of google docs if cost is important.

Here is why I would use access, you can link all your files in access to your word documents to print mailing labels. In the mail merge, you can set the docmument to print only certain things from your database. This can be done from your google docs database, I believe.

This way, you don't have tocworry about having someone learn php/SQL.

I used access since the late 90's and it has worked very well for me when I needed to organize a large amount of information.

Best of luck,

Grub
 
Don't get me wrong... I love Access... Actually of all the MSoft tools, its way at the top of my list. However, for your problem Dan, Gary has the right question and point.

I do application development for a living and far too often my business users make the same mistake... they try and solve the problem with technology before fixing/figuring out the process.

In your case, the root of your problem is that you have approximately 1/3 of your data missing. You need to figure out if you can correct that (and what is standing in your way) or if you need help in getting past the bad/missing data to use the good.

Once you figure out that goal, we can help more.

Feel free to PM me if you want a more detailed discussion on this.
 
GaryMGg said:
> some people are missing info
You don't have a software problem, you have a data custodian problem.
Fix that before you worry about switching from Excel.
Then, start with a google document or something similar.
Then, if you need to, go to a database with a web front end.
Click to expand...

I know we have a data custodian problem...this problem has been an issue since the early 90's, however rather than removing the bad data we keep it just in case we find leads so it can be updated.

Like I mentioned there are only going to be about 1 - 2 people using the database, however we would like to have a simpler way to look up a name or to easily print labels without all the waste of printing the entire list.
 
nativewooder said:
Use Open Office. It's free, so some people don't want to use it. www.openoffice.org and I've been told that it can do everything MS Office can do. (My two cents.)
Click to expand...

and some things MS can't do... love open office.... there is a small learning curve, but not very steep... I haven't figured out the data base entirely yet, but it seems simpler than others I've looked at...
 
witz1976 said:
...rather than removing the bad data we keep it just in case we find leads so it can be updated.
Click to expand...
One easy option is to move the records with missing data to another sheet in the current file.
Another is to filter the records which fail to meet the criteria needed for printing.
For example, let's say column F is City and City is blank for certain records and that is unacceptable.
If you select Column F, Filter and deselect "Blanks", you'll eliminate those rows from consideration [current use].
There are many ways to begin resolving your problem.
Here's another:

Let's say (again) column F is City which must be populated or the record (aka Row) is unusable for printing.
Let's say column N is unused at this time.
We create a formula for Row 1, Column N which says:
=IF(NOT(ISBLANK(F1)),"T","F")
Then, you copy that formula and paste it into all rows in column N.
You'll have T or F depending on whether City has data.
Now, sort on Column N and optionally, subsort on the column containing Name or whatever is of value to you: City, Zipcode, etc.

The above sort gives an easy way to aggregate unacceptable data which you may then cut-n-paste into another sheet.

witz1976 said:
Like I mentioned there are only going to be about 1 - 2 people using the database, however we would like to have a simpler way to look up a name or to easily print labels without all the waste of printing the entire list.
Click to expand...
Using the filter created above you can sort the data and use the "copy to another location" option, thereby creating a new sheet without the bad records.

How many rows in the spreadsheet?
 
hi
sorry it took awhile to get back to this thread,
one of the previous post was correct. the newer versions of Access lets you make it a "run time" application. years ago when i did it you had to buy the Access Developers Tool kit to do this.
hope this helps
Sulli
 
nativewooder said:
Use Open Office. It's free, so some people don't want to use it. www.openoffice.org and I've been told that it can do everything MS Office can do. (My two cents.)
Click to expand...

I use open office... it can do some things that MS Office won't do... I don't know how to use all the features... i.e., the data base, yet, but I'm learning little by little... I actually like it better than the MS version of office.

OO spreadsheets work a little different than excel but after you learn where and how they work, they do everything just as well as Excel.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom