Why do you find Access cool?

[oliviar]

Hi Guys,
This is a pretty frivolous thread. But I've been an Excel user for a while, and I panned Access.
But now, I find it amazing. Its much smarter than Excel, and its easier to collaborate with.
I feel I've only just scratched the surface. So I'm wondering:

What are some of things you find amazing about Access? I'd like to know so I can learn these magic tricks to use them myself.

Thanks

 

[Ziggy]

Ahh man I just spent half an hour typing and then the site told me to login and I lost everything, so sorry, I will be brief

Besides building a database to manage an operation, you can simply work with imported data from other systems to do queries for analysis, reports, and basic automation..

Tell us what kind of business you are in

 

[oliviar]

I do data analysis. I have to successfully conglomerate data from 15 different sources into one report everyday. Then I have to look at that data to find patterns, problems and solutions.
I'm hoping to find a fast and reliable way to get access to do the first bit, or at least some of it.
The second bit requires the human touch.

 

[Montez659]

Olivar, I gotta say I was in the same boat as you. I tried Access back when 2000 and 2003 were out and found it so user-unfriendly that I stuck with creating my own interfaces and working within Excel.

Now that I have been "forced" to play around with it for my job, I am loving it! I plan on redoing some of my previous projects.

What I find cool is a better user interface for users that can be customized. In Access, there is a lot more automation of things I would have to code in Excel, and this produces less errors overall.

 

[Norie]

Access and Excel are quite different and that's how they should be used.

I've worked in many situations where what was needed was both.

For example, Access for doing the 'heavy' data work and Excel for the anaylsis.

I'm pretty sure that's common.

I've also seen some pretty horrific setups where people insist on using only one where it could be appropriate to use both.

Remember Excel and Access are on speaking terms.

As for tricks, I don't quite know what you mean - what you want to do, ie consolidate data, is pretty standard stuff for both Access and Excel.

Which would be best to use would really depend on the data and what needs to be done with it.

 

[alansidman]

Here is a good read on Excel vs. Access

http://forums.aspfree.com/microsoft-access-help-18/access-vs-excel-349267.html

Alan