Let's take a walk through the paths you can take to create an Access desktop database, add data to it, and then learn about next steps towards customizing and using your new database.

Training: With Microsoft Access, you don't have to be a developer to create a database to help your team work more efficiently. Watch this online video to see how.

Access provides several tools that you can use to familiarize yourself with the structure of a particular database. This article also explains how, when, and why you use each tool.

Microsoft Access is now included as part of Microsoft 365 Family or Personal, Microsoft 365 Apps for business and Microsoft 365 Business Standard subscriptions.

For example, Access provides commands to connect to existing data in a Microsoft SQL Server database, a dBASE file, or an Outlook folder, along with many other data sources.

Discover the differences between Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Microsoft 365 Copilot — explore features available with and without a license.

Explore the differences between Microsoft accounts, (sometimes called personal accounts) and Microsoft Entra (work or school accounts).

After your device is registered, Windows then joins your device to the network, so you can use your work or school username and password to sign in and access restricted resources.

Relational database programs, such as Microsoft Office Access, use SQL to work with data. Unlike many computer languages, SQL is not difficult to read and understand, even for a novice.

An Access query is very versatile and can pull information from various tables and assemble it for display in a form or report.