1. Get to Know the Ribbon

If you skipped Office 2007 and are making the jump from Access 2003, the Microsoft’s Ribbon is a new feature and potential annoyance.  I know that when I first switched from Excel 2003 to Excel 2007, I hated the ribbon.  However over the years, I have found that it is actually a lot better than the old menu system once you become accustomed to it.  Of course the biggest problem in the transition is not knowing where anything is.  Luckily Microsoft has released an interactive reference guide to help you find the new location of commands in Access 2010.  You can get it here.

The most important tabs are Home, Create and Design.  Home is the….home of a lot of the common tasks and menu items found in other Office programs (think Cut, Copy, Paste, Text Formatting, Find/Replace).  Create is the starting point for all your new queries, tables, forms, and reports.  Design appears when you create a new objects and Access is smart enough to auto-select it after you create a new object.

2. Don’t like the Ribbon? Get it out of your way.

Simply Right Click the ribbon and select Minimize Ribbon to hide it and increase your work area in Access 2010.  You’ll still get to the ribbon, but it won’t always be displayed and taking up valuable screen real estate.

3. Customize the Ribbon

Right Click the ribbon and click the Customize Ribbon button to change it exactly to your liking.

4. The Quick Access Toolbar makes things Quick

Even when you get used to exactly where things are in the Ribbon, switching tabs to find menus and select them can require a lot more clicks than were needed in Access 2003.  Right click the Ribbon and select Show Quick Access Toolbar to display this small little shortcut of things.  You can right click the Quick Access Toolbar or the Ribbon and select Customize Quick Access to add shortcuts to all your frequent tasks.  We recommend adding things like Print, Save, Sync, Copy/Paste to the toolbar since they require 2 or more clicks and are very frequently used.  Sync is essential if you’re developing a web app, but you don’t have to take our recommendations – download our custom Quick Access Toolbar Right Here.

5. Don’t Miss the Quick View Change

You can quickly jump between Report View, Design View, Layout View and any other valid views by looking in the bottom right corner.  Each view is always just 1 click away!  You can also right click on any tab and change the view (2 clicks) rather than navigate the ribbon (3 Clicks) to change the view.

Click here to download the Reference Guide

If you’re getting lost in Microsoft Access 2010’s Ribbon then this interactive reference guide is for you.  It will help you transition from Access 2003’s menu system to the Access 2010 ribbon.  It’s a visual, interactive reference guide to help you find the new location of commands in Access 2010.  It’s a Silverlight/HTML program that lets you select a menu item in Access 2003’s menu and then plays a video showing you the location in Access 2010.  Very useful for folks making the transition.  You can download it from Microsoft here.

Back in 1999, Intuit launched Quickbase – a web-based collaborative database application that allows business people to create their own custom applications without writing code. The application is hosted by Intuit and sold by subscription.  At the time, Quickbase had quite a few advantages over Access 97 (even Access 2000).  It was web based, allowed for collaboration, and didn’t require any programming knowledge (Visual Basic for Applications – VBA).  Did I mention that Access 97 was ugly too:

Access 2010 has evolved though and Microsoft is ready for a rematch.  Here’s 5 Reasons why Quickbase can’t touch Microsoft Access 2010 & Access Web Services:

1. Access 2010 can do everything Quickbase can with no programming.  Anyone familiar with Microsoft Office will instantly feel comfortable with Access’s user interface.  You can easily add records, create queries and with Access Hosting – you can easily collaborate with other users and sync your data online without any programming knowledge.  Unlike Quickbase, Access 2010 is still compatible with VBA and other programming languages – so power users shouldn’t feel snubbed.

2. Access 2010 is software – not Browserware. That means you don’t NEED an internet connection to work with your database.  Just like Quickbase, and Access App can work in the browser and sync online, but has the added advantage of working locally as well.  If your internet connection goes down or if you are on the road, you can continue to add records to your database.  Next time you connect to the internet, Access will sync with your online database and upload your new records.

3. Access Web Services has a Back-Up Plan.  With Access you don’t have to worry about service outages (Bad Quickbase). Unfortunately, Quickbase works entirely in the cloud on Intuit’s servers.  Imagine if your Small Business can’t access its application or data for days because of an outage (Intuit suffered outages on between June 16 and June 17, June 20, and July 14).  With Access 2010, everything is stored locally and can run natively in a Windows Client. You can still get some work done even if your server/host goes down.

4. Access has Macros.  Macros allow you to automate a lot of routine reports and  actions. In 2010, Macros may be represented with XML which lends them more credibility with programmers.

5. Access is Cheaper than Quickbase. Quickbase’s monthly subscriptions start at $299 for 10 users and 1 GB of space and they own/control the hosting, the online software, and your data.  You buy Access 2010 Once and can get hosting from us for $49 and get 1GB and 5 Users.  That’s $250 Savings per Month! Did I mention that we have 99% Uptime too – no outages here.