Douglas said:
Depending on how the data's stored in Excel, you might be able to simply
link to the spreadsheet, and use it as though it was a table in Access. File
| Get External Data | Link Tables from the menu.
Depending on what you want to do, you might need to actually import the
data, rather than just linking them.
Do you plan to MAINTAIN the data using Excel (i.e., use Excel for your
data entry and updating, so you can use Autocorrect)? Then perhaps you
would do better to enter each datum (the badge ID number) using Excel,
and not even use Access for that.
If you maintain the data in Excel but need to use Access to do other
related tasks, such as getting information out of an Access database to
match to the badge data, you might want to link the tables, or you might
instead want to have Excel import stuff from Access (in Excel, use
Data-->Get External Data).
If you intend to maintain the data in Access and just get them one time
from Excel, then I think you should consider importing the table into
your Access database. If you decide to do that, and if you're unlucky
and the data don't import well from Excel, what I suggest is to make a
copy (that I can later throw away) of the Excel file. When I do this, I
modify the Excel copy by deleting Worksheets that I don't need, Rows and
Columns that I don't need, etc. If some of the values need to be
reformatted, I define Excel functions to do that. If field names are
not in the first Row of the Excel table I'm trying to import, I insert a
Row and enter the field names there as column headers.
Having made the Excel data look nice, I import them into an Access Table
(specifying that the first imported record contains the field names),
then delete my copied Excel file.
The Access wizard that imports Tables can do some of this, but I think
it's usually easier and faster to take care of that in Excel.
For data entry in Access, you won't get quite the same behavior as with
AutoComplete. You may want to use a Text Box or a Combo Box for the
data entry. Of course, if the badge numbers and names are already
stored (you said you have both already stored in the Excel file), you
won't need to use anything like AutoComplete; the badge ID number should
be enough to specify the name, and the only data entry will be of that
number. For entering new badge numbers and names, I think AutoComplete
won't help, since you would only rarely wish to give multiple badge ID
numbers to the same person.
