Chapter 11. Using Action Queries

Action queries create new tables or modify the data in existing tables. Four types of action queries are available in Access:

• Make-table creates new tables from the data contained in query result sets. One of the most common applications for make-table queries is to create tables that you can export to other applications, or that summarize data from other tables. A make-table query provides a convenient way to copy a table to another database. In some cases, you can use make-table queries to speed the generation of multiple forms and reports based on a single, complex query.

• Append adds new records to tables from the query's Recordset.

• Delete deletes records from tables that correspond to the rows of the query result set.

• Update changes the values of existing fields of table records corresponding to rows of the query result set.

This chapter shows you how to create each of the four types of action queries and how to use Access's cascading deletions and cascading updates of related records. This chapter covers cascading deletions and cascading updates because these features are related to delete and update action queries, respectively.