You can do IT in later life - 26

Spreadsheet   

1.      Use a package such as Excel to set up your database. Type in as many headings (technically known as fields) as you can think of, so you can search by title, first name, surname etc. and then fill each row with the record of one person.     

2.      Once the database becomes very large and you want to search for particular names or addresses, use one of the following search techniques. 

a.      Go to the Edit - Find menu option and type the word(s) you are looking for in the Find what box.  Click Find Next and the relevant cell should be selected.    

b.      Select ALL the data including the headings and then go to Data - Filter - AutoFilter.  Small boxes will appear at the top of each column. Click the drop down arrow in the box to reveal each entry in that particular column. To display one set of entries - e.g. all those people living in Birmingham, or all the Smiths, select that choice with your mouse. Only relevant records will be displayed. When you have finished, return to the full database by clicking (All) in the list, or go to Data - Filter - Show All.

c.      If your search is more complex, click (Custom).  Then pick the appropriate entries in the boxes for each category.      

d.      For a simple search, just re-order your records.  Select all the data (if you haven’t yet set up a Filter) and go to Data - Sort.  In the first box, select which column you want to sort on and whether it is in alphabetical order (ascending) or not.  You can even sort on two or three categories - first by surname, then by first name and finally by age, postcode, country etc. etc.  Click OK and now you can quickly move to the appropriate block of records to find those addresses.   

Database

1.      Create a table in a database package such as Access and enter each record in the usual way. (Setting up tables to be covered in a future issue.) It might look something like this:

2.      Use the Edit - Find menu just as in Excel to locate a particular record.  However, only one category is searched at a time unless you ask the computer to search the entire table.  Click your mouse in any entry in the correct category first or change the entry in the Look in box.     

3.      Re-order your database by clicking an entry in the appropriate column (e.g. click a Smith to re-order by Surname) and click the A-Z button on the toolbar.

4.      Filter out records to leave just the appropriate details.  Click any example of the entries you want to find (e.g. Birmingham to locate all relatives living here) and then click the Filter by Selection   button.  All other records will be temporarily hidden.  Return to the full database by clicking Apply/Remove Filter (the light cone button).

5.      To carry out a more sophisticated search, click the Filter by Form button and select appropriate details or type in your own.  Then click the Apply/Remove Filter button.     

6.      Finally, for a search you can save and repeat in future, design a Query.  Close the table, click the Query tab in the Database window and choose to create it in Design View.  Select the table on which to base your search and close the Show Table box.  Then decide which categories you want to view (you don’t have to see all details and may only want e.g. surname and postcode).  Drag the names of these categories from the small list to the rows below, or double click each name. Type in the details you are searching for in the appropriate column on the Criteria row and click Run.

Just the relevant record details should be displayed and you can save this search with an appropriate name.  When you add more people to your database, running this query will include new Smith members.