Different Types of Access Queries

By now you should be pretty familiar with the standard Select query, used for displaying information in a datasheet format or for the record source for a form or report. There are number of other types of queries that can be used. Here are some of the other types of queries and where you could use them:

1. Action queries: Lets you perform bulk operations such as add new records (Append query), update records (Update query), delete records (Deleting query), and create a whole new table (Make Table query).
2. Crosstab queries: Displays a cross-tabulation of data, similar to Microsoft Excel’s Pivot Table. An example of this is to sum up all the hours worked for all the projects across various months.

You can choose the queries just listed from the Query Type toolbar button, displayed in the MouseOver below, with the various types of queries available from the toolbar button.

In addition to the queries listed, there are Total queries, which are used for displaying aggregate information, such as summing up and displaying all the hours worked on a project. The Totals queries and others listed above will be covered in the rest of this module. Other queries available are more advanced in their uses. Those types of queries are SQL specific, and are the Union, Pass-Through, and Data Definition queries. They can be found on the SQL Specific submenu, located on the Query menu choice in Query Design mode. These queries will not be discussed in this course.
In the next lesson, you will learn how to create action queries to perform bulk operations.