A database is an organized collection of data. Organization means method, it assumes discipline, it also anticipates efficient manner in using that information. Unless you are creating small applications for your personal use (and I don't think you are exclusively doing just that), you will usually need to share your data either with other people (users, DB developers, etc) or other machines.

To make your job easier, Microsoft Access provides in one package the database information and the tools you need to use your database.

To be organized, you will divide your database in different related parts. The method of management you will use makes Microsoft Access a Database Management System.When you create a database in Microsoft Access, you create a database file that will include  different parts of your database. These are referred to as tables, queries, forms, reports, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From here, you can click an icon to access a specific category, referred to as objects. Microsoft Access keeps different details about your database in different formats. If you click the Tables button under the Objects button, you get to the Tables category.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the central point of your development, because all data is stored in tables. The functioning of your database relies on how you design your tables. For better organization, you will have various tables in your database, each for a different purpose. For example, for a video club application, you would use one table to store employees information, another table to store customers records, yet another table to list different video tapes (their titles, ratings, actors names), etc. A table is made of rows and columns. A row is considered a Record, it is a group of details about one specific item of the table. It could contain a customer's name, his phone number, his member ID, his work number, his marital status, etc.

A column is a field representing one particular category of information about the records in the table. For example, it would hold the names of all actors in a particular movie, another column would hold the titles of different movies in the video store.