This is a picture of an access database relationships window. I pulled this off the web (it is random). However, it looks very, very similar to the way MY Access database looks.....
You see, this semester I'm trying my hand at adding all my grades to a comprehensive Access database. With this in place, I can control all spreadsheets from a master spreadsheet. It eliminates the need to update multiple spreadsheets when someone drops the class or I'm tallying overall scores throughout the semester. So far I've only verified that it works for dropping a student. I can drop someone from the master spreadsheet and their scores/name will be dropped from all of the linked spreadsheets. This eliminates so many steps for me!
The problems I am encountering make the process a bit rough. For example, do I have to manually set the data type for every cell throughout the database? I'm finding it a pain to alter my number cells so that the database accepts decimal numbers instead of just integers. I'm also finding the "sort' function a bit tricky. I sort by last name alphabetically only to find my spreadsheet resorted according to increasing student number. It is really frustrating to paste data only to discover the students were in the wrong order.
For all of these reasons I keep a backup excel document on my hard drive. If I ever lose anything important I can find it later.
I am so excited to take advantage of this technology and save time in the process.
Gold star, gold star gold star!
