If you choose to create a form, you might reasonably want to format that form for added eye appeal. This is particularly true if other users will be entering data using your forms. One way to add eye appeal is to simply apply formatting changes to the form manually — for example, choosing a background color, border style, font, and so on from the Format tab on the Ribbon. An easier way, however, is to use Access's themes. Themes enable you to apply a background color, fonts, borders, and so on to the form in a single operation.

Of course, before you can apply a theme to a form, you must create your form. To create a form in Access, first display the table or query on which you want the form to be based in Access. In this task, Layout view is used; you can also apply a theme to a form in Design view. Then click the Create tab in the Ribbon and click the Form button. Access creates the form. Be sure to save the form.

You can also customize the themes you use in Access and save them to reuse in other Access databases and other Office programs. To learn more about customizing a theme, see Chapter 8. Although geared towards PowerPoint, the principles applied in the tasks "Customize a Theme" and "Save a Custom Theme" can also be used in Access to tailor a theme to suit your needs.

If you have ever purchased anything on the Internet, chances are you have entered your billing and shipping information in an online form. You probably already realize, then, that you can move from one field of a form to the next by pressing Tab on your keyboard.

The order in which the insertion point is moved from one field to another when Tab is pressed is the form's tab order. By default, the tab order is the order in which fields are added to a form. You can change this tab order, however, to any order you want. You might change a form's tab order if, for example, you added a field to the middle of your form at the last minute.

To change the tab order, you must display the form in Design view. To do so, right-click the form in the Navigation pane and choose Design View from the menu that appears, or click the View button and choose Design View.

You can also remove a control from the tab order. Switch to Design view and select the control you want to remove from the tab order in your form. Press F4 to display the Property Sheet task pane, click the Other tab, and change the Tab Stop property's Yes field to No.

Another way to make your forms more visually appealing is to insert an image into the form. For example, you might insert your company logo, or an image that relates to the type of data the form requests, such as a picture ID or product image.

Depending on how large you want the image, you may need to move a few of your form elements to make room for the image. You can easily resize fields in Design view by dragging a border or corner of the field box.

After you insert an image, you can resize it as needed, either by dragging the image's corner handle or by opening its Property Sheet. (To open a picture's Property Sheet, right-click the picture, and choose Properties. Change the sizing settings by clicking the Format tab and adjusting the Width and Height properties.) You can insert an image into the form body, or you can add a thumbnail size to the form's header.

In addition to enabling you to insert pictures into forms, Access allows you to add images to reports. You add images to both forms and reports using Design view.

If you choose to create a report about your data, you might want to format that report for added eye appeal. One way to do so would be to simply apply formatting changes to the report manually — for example, choosing a border style, font, and so on from the Format tab on the Ribbon. Another easy way to add visual impact is to include a background picture in your report.

Of course, before you can apply any formatting to a report, you must first create the report. To create a report in Access, first display the table or query on which you want the report to be based in Access, click the Create tab in the Ribbon, and click the Report button. Access creates the report.

You can apply a background image to a report in Layout or Design view. When choosing a background, try to pick something that complements your report and does not distract from the information the report conveys. Digital photographs make good backgrounds. Logos tend to get lost behind the data, but photographs fill the entire page.

Tip

More Options!

You can apply simple formatting techniques to your report text using the commands found on the Format tab on the Ribbon. For example, you can click a field in the report and click the Bold button (

More Options!

You can also apply one of Access's many themes to a report. A theme is a pre-set collection of formatting, including color and font. To apply a theme, click the Design tab on the Ribbon, click the Themes button and choose from the gallery of available themes. You can use the Colors and Fonts buttons located next to the Themes button to customize your theme.

You can use Access's conditional formatting functionality to assign certain formatting to fields in forms and reports when the value in a field meets a specified condition. For example, if you have a report with a Balance field, you might opt to present all negative values in that field in red text. This enables you to detect problems, patterns, and trends at a glance.

Access offers several predefined rules for conditional formatting. For example, you can set a rule to highlight data that is greater than, less than, equal to, or between a range of specified values; contains specific text; is a duplicate value; is among the top ten or bottom ten values; is above average or below average; and more. You can format data that meets conditions you set by changing the font or background.

You can apply conditional formatting from Design view or Layout view (as covered here).

You can easily filter and analyze your database data using a PivotTable. A PivotTable is an interactive table that summarizes your data using format and calculation methods you specify. PivotTables are useful in that they enable you to create many different views of your data rather than a fixed report. This way you can decide which one is most useful.

You create a PivotTable by displaying the table or query containing the data you want to summarize in PivotTable view and then dragging the desired fields in the table or query to the blank PivotTable grid that appears.

After you have the PivotTable in place, you can enhance it by filtering by certain fields, or by certain values in a particular field. You can add fields to it specifically for the purpose of filtering, or you can exclude certain values from individual rows or columns.

If, after creating a PivotTable, you realize that it contains too many individual entries to be meaningful, you can group the entries into summary items.

You can view your data using a PivotChart. A PivotChart is an interactive chart that summarizes your data using format and calculation methods you specify. PivotCharts are useful in that they enable you to create many different views of your data rather than a fixed report. This way you can decide which one is most useful.

A PivotChart is like a PivotTable, except it expresses the data graphically rather than as text and numbers. Indeed, PivotTables and PivotCharts are two different views of the same data, so you can switch freely between them. (To do so, right-click the PivotTable or PivotChart's tab and choose PivotChart View or PivotTable View, respectively.) If you switch to PivotChart view while there are fields in PivotTable view, the fields carry over unless they are cleared first.

You create a PivotChart by displaying the table or query containing the data you want to summarize in PivotChart view and then dragging the desired fields in the table or query to the blank PivotChart that appears.