Using Access's Tab Control to Create a Multipage Form

To create a multipage form in Microsoft Access using the Tab Control, follow these steps:

1. Open Your Database
   • Open your database in Microsoft Access.
   • Ensure you are in Design View for the form where you want to add the Tab Control.
2. Add the Tab Control
   • Go to the Design tab in the Ribbon.
   • In the Controls group, find the Tab Control button (looks like folder tabs).
   • Click the Tab Control and draw it onto your form.
3. Add Pages to the Tab Control
   • By default, the Tab Control will have two pages labeled as "Page1" and "Page2."
   • To add more pages:
     • Right-click on the Tab Control.
     • Select Insert Page from the context menu.
     • Repeat this step for additional pages.
4. Rename the Tabs
   • Right-click on a tab (e.g., "Page1").
   • Select Properties to open the Property Sheet.
   • In the Caption field, enter the name you want for that tab (e.g., "Customer Info," "Orders," etc.).
   • Repeat this for each tab.
5. Add Controls to Each Page
   • Click on a specific tab to activate it.
   • Add controls (e.g., text boxes, combo boxes, buttons) to that tab page just as you would on a normal form.
   • Each page can have its unique set of controls.
6. Adjust the Tab Control Size and Placement
   • Resize and position the Tab Control on the form to ensure it fits well.
   • Resize individual pages by resizing the Tab Control itself.
7. Bind Controls to Data (Optional)
   • If you want the controls on the tab pages to display or edit data:
     • Bind them to fields in your data source (table or query) using the Control Source property in the Property Sheet.
8. Test the Multipage Form
   • Switch to Form View to test your form.
   • Navigate between the tabs to ensure they work as intended and the controls display or capture the desired data.

Additional Tips

• Conditional Formatting: Use conditional formatting or VBA to dynamically change the appearance of tabs based on certain conditions.
• Linked Subforms: Add subforms to specific tabs for more complex data relationships or views.
• Tab Order: Ensure that the tab order of controls within each page is logical by using the Tab Order tool in the Design tab.

One of the best features added in Access 97 was the Tab control

found in the Form Design toolbox. In MS Access 365, the Tab control continues its role of allowing you to organize multiple pages of related information on a single form. It also allows you to move from page to page by clicking the tabs at the top of the Tab control. You can see two pages displayed in the next two figures:

Both of these pages make up a form with information about projects. The last page displayed uses a Subform control, discussed in the previous lesson.

To add a Tab control to a form, you need to:

1. Click on the Tab control in the toolbox.
2. Drop the control onto the form you desire. You will then be presented with two pages by default.
3. Open the property sheet by clicking on the Property Sheet toolbar button.

Once you have added the Tab control to a form, you can change the caption of each of the pages by clicking on the current caption of the page you want, then changing the Caption property located on the Format tab of the property sheet.

• Adding information to a Tab control page
  To add information to the individual pages, click the caption of the page in which you want to place the information, then place the controls on the Tab control as you would on the form itself.

There are other ways to work with the Tab control, such as adding, deleting, and moving pages. To do this, right-click on the Tab control, and you will see this menu displayed:

• Tab control right-click menu options
  The last choice presented in the MouseOver, Tab Order, gives you the ability to control the tab order on each of the pages.
  To change the tab order:
  1. Highlight the page using the page’s tab.
  2. Right-click to display the shortcut menu, then choose Tab Order.
  
  You will then see the Tab Order dialog for the page.

1) Insert Page	Allows you to insert a page into the Tab control after the currently selected page.
2) Delete Page	Deletes the currently selected page from the Tab control.
3) Page Order	Lets you organize the order of the pages in the Tab control.
4) Tab Order	Affects the tab order of the currently selected page in the Tab control.

Click the Exercise link below to practice creating a form and adding the Tab control.
Creating Multipage Forms - Exercise
In the next lesson, you will learn how to use the Chart Wizard to add a chart to a form.