Can MS Excel sheets be used by MS Access?

[Aki]

i am working a lot with MS Excel with some considerable amount of data. i am able to use it's features for generating summaries and computations.

however, i would like to use my table (or sheet) from Excel in Access. the knowledge i have in MS Access is too basic.

while i would like to learn access for data manipulation, i would not want to totally forget Excel. there are many processes that are more conviniently done in Excess that Access.

in short, can Access use my Excel worksheet as a source of data? a link from Access to Excel, maybe?

 

[Don]

What exactly are you trying to accomplish?

There are different ways to accomplish what I think you're saying. If you leave it as a link to calculations in Excel, then a macro or Visual Basic programming may be in order.

Then again, there's the "Expression Builder" in Access that lets you build just about any formula you could set up in Excel.

An example of what you're trying to accomplish would be helpful.

 

[td]

Access can certainly use Excel. You will need to import the spreadsheet. Try this:

In Access, click on 'Insert''Table'. Then click on 'Import Table' and navigate the file system to find your Excel file. Make sure the 'file type' is set to Excel. It will become your data table in Access. From there you can design and run any query you want. You can also go back and use the chart and graph functions of Excel to display the results.

I suggest getting a basic tutorial on Access. While I am not a power user in Access, I teach prison inmates the basics from the Shelly-Cashman MS Office series by Thompson Learning. They explain things pretty well. Don't be intimidated by Access. Once you master a few basic principles, you will really see the advantages of using it over Excel as a database.

[ April 17, 2004, 07:22 AM: Message edited by: td ]