RICHARD ROST: What is a table in Microsoft Access? All of the data in your Access database is stored in one or more tables. You can think of a table like a single Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. However, tables give you much more control over the types of data that can be input into them. 

For example, here you see part of a customer table. Tables are made up of a collection of fields. Each field holds a specific type of data. For example, here I have highlighted the last name field in red. This field should only store the customer's last name and nothing else. 

In fact, you can specify rules in the database to force fields to contain only certain types of information, like text, numbers, dates, currency values, and so on. Fields are sometimes referred to as columns, just like in an Excel spreadsheet. All of the data concerning one item is stored in a record. Each record consists of the collection of all of the fields of data for that item. 

In this customer table, for example, each record represents one customer. Here, I've highlighted one customer, James Kirk, in red. You can think of a record like a row in an Excel spreadsheet. 

You might not always be storing customers. A product table, for example, holds information on products, and each record would represent one product. An order table, for example, holds information on each order that's placed, where one record would represent one order. A contact history table, for example, like the one shown here, could store information about each time you talk to your customer. Every phone call, email, et cetera will be stored as a separate record. 

In a timesheet table, for example, each record might represent one instance of an employee clocking in or out. Your tables can store many different types of data-- people, places, events, and so on. You should store one type of data per table. Your customer table should hold information on your customers. You wouldn't store product information in your customer table. 

One of the mistakes that beginners make is they try to store too much information in one table. For example, you wouldn't try to store all of a customer's orders in the customer table. You'd use a second table for that. 

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