• Easy-to-use software helps you track and report information with ease
• Features a results-oriented user interface (UI) that's context-sensitive and optimized for efficiency and flexibility
• Main window provides a tabbed work area where all open objects reside, helping to keep the development area tidy; new status bar, scroll bars, and title bar give applications a very modern look
• Includes pre-built applications that you can modify or adapt to suit changing business needs; 1,000 available commands; UI displays only those commands relevant to the task you're currently performing
• New Navigation Pane provides a comprehensive view of tables, forms, queries, and reports; new filtering options make it easy to filter a date column for all records in Today, Yesterday, Last Week, Next Month, Future, Past, and so on

• PC World
• Access 2007 Essentials

Microsoft Office Access 2007 helps knowledge workers start tracking information quickly, create meaningful reports with ease, and share data more securely using the Web. Its new library of pre-built solutions & new information-sharing capabilities let you track and report information with ease. The prebuilt database solutions allows you to modify and adapt them to your changing business needs. Collect information through forms in e-mail or import data from external applications. Create and edit detailed reports that display sorted, filtered, and grouped information to facilitate more informed decision making. Share information with others using Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services technology lists, where you can audit revision history, recover deleted information, set data access permissions, and back up your information at regular intervals. It's your all-in-one, out-of-the-box database solutions. Work with multivalue fields - Create complex data types, like columns that accept more than one value in a cell Attach multiple documents and files to your database, storing them for easy reference Interactive forms design - Design and modify the form layout in real time on the screen -- and preview your form as you build it Rich text formatting - Provides rich text support for data stored in tables
With its improved interface and interactive design capabilities that do not require extensive database knowledge, Microsoft Office Access 2007 helps you track and report information with ease. This all-in-one, out-of-the-box database solution helps workers track information quickly, create meaningful reports with ease, and share data more securely using the Web.

Office Access 2007 provides a library of prebuilt database solutions to get you started quickly. View larger.

Office Access 2007 has made it easier to filter data, bringing clarity to business questions. View larger.

Collect information from others by e-mail with InfoPath (or HTML) forms generated by Office Access 2007. View larger.

Moving your Office Access 2007 application to Windows SharePoint Services enables browser access to information. View larger.

Editing forms in interactive design mode is a true WYSIWIG experience. View larger.

Office Access 2007 provides a completely redesigned user interface and close integration with Outlook contacts. View larger.

Office Access 2007 has been updated with a fresh look so that you can easily create, modify, and work with database solutions. View larger.

Results-Oriented Interface
Access 2007 has been updated with a fresh look that makes it easier to create, modify, and work with tracking applications. The new results-oriented user interface (UI) is context-sensitive and optimized for efficiency and flexibility. The main window has a tabbed work area where all open objects reside, helping to keep the development area clean and tidy. Additionally, there are no windows hidden under other windows, so it's much easier to keep track of open documents and applications. To make things even simpler, from the nearly 1,000 available commands, the new UI displays only those relevant to the task you are performing at any given moment. And the new status bar, scroll bars, and title bar give applications built on Access 2007 a very modern look.

Pre-built Applications to Better Manage Information
Featuring pre-built applications that you can modify or adapt to suit changing business needs, Access 2007 gives you the option of collecting information through forms in e-mail or importing data from external applications. You can also create and edit detailed reports that display sorted, filtered, and grouped information in a way that helps you make better sense of the data for informed decision-making.

Getting Started Screen
The new Getting Started screen includes a variety of pre-built database solutions that you can use right out of the box to track contacts, events, issues, assets, tasks, and more--or treat them like templates, and enhance and refine them to accommodate the kind of information you want to track or the way in which you want to track it. As other application templates become available from Microsoft Office Online, they will be advertised in the Getting Started screen so you'll always be up to date on new technology that can help your business run more smoothly.

Quickly Create Tables
Access 2007 features a new Navigation Pane which provides a comprehensive view of tables, forms, queries, and reports. You can even create custom groups to organize and see all the forms and reports related to a single table. In addition, Access 2007 makes it easier to work directly within a datasheet to create and customize tables. Enter information into a data cell--just as you would do in Microsoft Office Excel--and if it's a new value, Access 2007 automatically adds a new field and detects the data type (for example, date, number, or text). You can even paste Excel tables into a new datasheet, and Access 2007 will build all the fields and recognize the data types automatically. To help save you even more time, design and modify the form layout in real time on the screen, and preview your form as you build it. And for professional-looking results, Access 2007 provides rich text support for data stored in tables, so you can bold and italicize key data with ease.

Editing reports in Office Access 2007 offers easy grouping and editing with interactive design mode. View larger.

Filter and Sort Data
Access 2007 makes it easier to filter data, bringing clarity to business questions. Different filter options are available for text, numbers, and date data types. For example, new filtering options make it easy to filter a date column for all records in Today, Yesterday, Last Week, Next Month, Future, Past, and so on. For added convenience, the filtering experience is consistent between Excel 2007 and Access 2007 so that you don't need to learn a new way to find the information you need.

Work With Multi-Value Fields
Access 2007 supports complex data types, which means you can create columns that accept more than one value in a cell. For example, if you assign a task to more than one person, you can include both names in the cell. Windows SharePoint Services technology is compatible with these complex data types to help ensure data symmetry between the local and Web-based data stores.

Attach Documents and Files to Your Database
Your applications can hold information that is more interesting and helpful than ever before. You can attach multiple files--such as photos, documents, or spreadsheets--to individual records within the data store for easy reference. If the file isn't a compressed format, Access 2007 automatically compresses it for you, saving hard disk space. When it comes to consolidating information, Access 2007 lets you import contact records from Outlook 2007.

Interactive Form and Report Design
Access 2007 features an intuitive, user-friendly, what-you-see-is-what-you-get (WYSIWYG) forms design interface. This means you can design and modify the form layout in real time on the screen and preview your form as you build it. With the WYSIWYG design interface, you'll be able to build forms very quickly, spending more time doing the work and less time on design and formatting issues. You can also manipulate the report layout directly while browsing the data in the report designer, so you don't need to run the report to see how it looks on the page. This makes it easier to create great-looking reports in much less time.

More Accessible Reports
The new report browse mode makes reports more accessible. By using CTRL+F, you can find records, copy the data into other applications, and get to detailed records to edit the data. With the new filtering functionality, you can get clearer information on which to base decisions. To help keep things running smoothly, the improved Grouping Pane provides a clear display of data groupings so that you can preview changes as you are applying them to reports. You can easily add totals, subtotals, counts, and other elements that help you analyze the data. To help organize data, group the information in one or more layers and add subtotals.

Collecting and Sharing Information
Access 2007 simplifies the process of collecting information from others by building the data collection form automatically in InfoPath 2007 or HTML in the body of the e-mail message. You can then send that form to recipients, using e-mail addresses from your Outlook contacts or from Access itself. Outlook 2007 processes the incoming forms and saves the data in your Access 2007 data store, effectively updating the data in your tracking application immediately, without any need for retyping.

Web Collaboration With Windows SharePoint Services
By moving your Access 2007 files to a Windows SharePoint Services Web site, you can more readily share information, audit revision history, recover deleted information, set data access permissions, and back up your information at regular intervals. For instance, Web sites based on Windows SharePoint Services provide a place where your team can communicate, share documents, and work together on a project. With Access 2007, you can publish your Access files to libraries or move the application to Windows SharePoint Services, moving the data and front-end database to the server so that your team can interact with it easily through the browser. Forms and reports can then be viewed, updated, or deleted directly on the Windows SharePoint Services site according to the established permission settings.

Work Offline
Using Access 2007, you can work with Windows SharePoint Services offline. If you're traveling, for example, you can maintain a local copy of a SharePoint list on your portable computer, where you can edit and query the list as though it were any other Access table. Moreover, forms and reports that use the SharePoint list are fully interactive--and Office Access 2007 can later synchronize the local list with the online list when you bring your portable computer back online.

Integration with Windows SharePoint Services
Access 2007 authors can use business logic created with the workflow support in Windows SharePoint Services to build collaborative workgroup applications. Use this support to automatically assign tasks to other users, report on project status, and help ensure that tasks are completed on time. For added convenience, all Windows SharePoint Services tasks can be viewed inside Office Access 2007 or Outlook 2007, depending upon your work style. Windows SharePoint Services lists can even be accessed through mobile phones, so remote users can stay current on changing business information.

Manage and Audit Sensitive Information
To make this software even safer and more consistent with other 2007 Office system programs, Access 2007 includes improved as well as new security features. Unified trust decisions are integrated with Office Trust Center, and trusted locations mean databases in security-enhanced folders. Conversely, you can load an Access application with code or macros disabled to help provide a safe experience. Or you can track records and see who created, edited, and deleted them. Whichever option you choose, you can rest assured that your data is safe.

Customer Rating:
Summary: What a nightmare!
Comment: Access 2007 does basically the same as any other previous versions, but they changed the screen presentation, so now everything is either hiding or in other places. It is like having bought a different manufacturer's product. (In a car, now the brake pedal would be in the steering column and the light switch would be the accelerator....)
I think I would have been better off downloading Open Office (for free.)
Also, it is very expensive.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: very cool software
Comment: Micrisoft Acces 2007 is a rally useful software, some people says that is much better the 2003 versions but i think that the 2007 is the best

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Access 2007 = Mixed Results
Comment: I have been using Microsoft Access since the early 1990s, and I have been teaching it in the classroom and online for over a decade. I was a contract database developer for many years.

Access is one of my favorite programs. It has all the power that most people and small businesses need to create extraordinary databases, yet it's easy to use. You can be up and running with Access in just a few hours with the help of a good book or tutorial.

If you are new to Microsoft Access, and you have never used it before, you're going to LOVE Access 2007. The interface is clean. There are plenty of features, and you should have no problems navigating it - especially if you're familiar with the new interface in Word 2007 or Excel 2007.

If you have been using Access for a few years, and are used to previous versions, such as Access 2003 or XP, be ready for a new learning curve. It's going to take you a while to figure out where Microsoft put everything with the new "ribbon" menu system. Personally, I don't like it - but then again, I'm not used to it yet.

Do NOT purchase Access 2007 to upgrade your business database thinking it's going be a smooth, easy transition. Unless you have a few WEEKS to kill learning the new interface, upgrading your database, and ironing out the rough spots. Most of my databases upgraded without a hitch, but a few of them had VBA code that just wouldn't work in the new version.

DO purchase Access 2007 if you're new to Access, or you want to take the time to learn the new system, experiment with it, or build NEW databases. It is a wonderful program. I just wish that Microsoft would have kept those of us in mind who have been using their product for the past umpteen years before completely redesigning the interface.

Richard Rost
President
AccessLearningZone.com

Author of Microsoft Access 101 Video Tutorials & eBook

P.S. I've seen some other comments on here about using a "real" database like SQL Server or Oracle. Yes, I agree that Access doesn't have the most powerful database engine, but it's fine for 99% of small businesses. Plus, you can always upgrade later and keep your Access front-end attached to an SQL Server engine.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: MS Access 2007 Review
Comment: I'm pleased with Access '07. I would suggest a good manual or guide book to aid you through the various functions.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good FileMaker imitation
Comment: I am not sure what MS hoped to accomplish with this version of Access, other than to make it easier for most Access users, who seem to use Access as a glorified Excel spreadsheet. Having developed in Access for many years, this major revision is a little off-putting. It looks just like FileMaker, which I personally dislike.

That being said, it has all the basic functionality of the older versions, except with a very forced FileMaker interface that is hard to overcome. You can down-convert to mdb files, so that is a good feature. Otherwise, the most significant update is the menu ribbons, which are a pain to relearn, and the XML formatting, which remains to be seen if it will be useful in the Office environment. Since they are pushing SharePoint quite succesfully, I think this will pay off for MS in the long run, but otherwise, just be prepared to shell out some retraining dollars.

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