Navigate through Records in an Access Table

We've already seen that we can use the Tab key to navigate from one field to the next in a record. We can also navigate from cell to cell using the arrow keys. In addition to these methods, we can use the record navigator bar, which is at the bottom of the object workspace. Let's open our table and view it now.

Step1. To open tblFaculty, in the navigation pane,

Double-Click tblFaculty

You might notice immediately that there are more records. You could scroll down to view the newly expanded list, but the Record Navigator Bar provides a quick and easy way to confirm how many records are in a given table:

Before the import there were 19 records, but now there are 75 records in the table. When we first open our table, the first record is active. Let's use the record navigator to move through the table.

Step2. To navigate to the second record, in the Record Navigator Bar,

Click

Now we can see that record 2 of 75 is active. If we want to jump to the first or last record, there are quick buttons for those as well.

Step3. To jump to the last record,

Click

Step4. To jump back to the first record,

Click

We can use this area to jump to a specific record, as well.

Step5. To jump to record 40, in the Current Record field of the Record Navigator bar,

Click, Press & Drag the value, type: 40, press: Enter key

Robert Archer is now the active record.

We can also use this area to search for words in our table. Let's search for Professor Godfrey.

Step6. To search the data for a specific word, in the Search field of the Record Navigator bar,

Click, type: Godfrey

NOTE: As you type, Access begins searching for the first record that has a field with text that matches. You can press enter at any point to jump to the next matching record based on what has been entered in the Search field so far. To move back to a previous match, retype the search criteria.

The entry for Shannon Godfrey is now the active record.

Next, we'll learn how to add an attachment to a record in an Access database.