Creating a Query

The basic process of creating a query, regardless of the options you specify, consists of these steps:

1. Starting a new query. For details, see Creating Queries.
   
   
2. Choosing one or more input sources (tables or views) to work with. For details, see Adding Input Sources.
   
   
3. Specifying the data columns to work with in the query, such as the columns to display or to use in search conditions. For details, see Adding Columns.
   
   
4. Specifying the order for rows in the query output, if appropriate. Typically, you order rows only if you are creating a Select query. For details, see Ordering Query Results.
   
   
5. Specifying search criteria to indicate which rows to display (for Select queries) or that will be affected (for Update, Delete, and Insert queries). For details, see Specifying Search Conditions.
   
   
6. Running the query. For details, see Executing a Query.

You can use additional Query Designer features to create more complex queries. For example, you can create queries that:

• Join two or more tables to display data from multiple tables in one query. For details, see Querying Using Multiple Tables.
  
  
• Produce summary information such as totals, averages, and so on. For details, see Summarizing and Grouping.
  
  
• Update a database directly or using a query. For details, see Modifying Data in Tables.
  
  
• Prompt for values (such as search values) when you run the query. For details, see Specifying Search Conditions.
  
  
• Create or edit views. For details, see Creating a View.