Design View

·         To see the form in Design View , click on the View icon in the toolbar, and then select Design View .

Form View

·         To see the form in Form View , click on the View icon in the toolbar, and then select Form View .

Manipulating form design

After you have created a form using Forms Wizard, you might want to move some of the fields around, or add or delete fields.  The same basic principles of Select then Manipulate! apply here as in all other Microsoft applications. 

The controls that Access adds to forms you create using Form Wizard are called bound controls.  This means that they are bound to the fields in the underlying table or query.  Bound controls consist of a Label and a Text box.  The label holds the field name, or caption from the field’s properties.  The text box holds the table data.

To select a control with the mouse

Click somewhere in the control.  If you click on the label, you will notice eight sizing handles at the corner and sides of the label box; you will also see a move handle at the top left of both the label and the text box.  If you click in the text box, you will see that the eight sizing handles now appear around the corner and sides of the text box and that the move handles still appear at the top left-hand corners of both the label box and text box.  This lets you move label and text boxes together or independently.

You can move from control to control using the Tab key but you must click in one of the controls first!

To select adjacent controls

·         Click on a point outside the group and drag the pointer through the controls.   As you move the pointer, it draws a rectangle around the selected group.

To select non-adjacent controls

·         Hold down the SHIFT key as you select each of the controls.

To save a form

·         Choose Save from the File menu.

·         Type in a name for the form.

·         Press Enter or click on OK .

To change the size of a section

After adding and moving controls you might want to change the size of a section.  

·         Move the mouse pointer over the bottom edge of the section.  The pointer will change to a double-headed vertical arrow across a solid horizontal bar.

·         Drag the edge of the section until it is the required size.

To change the width of the form

·         Move the mouse pointer over the right edge of any section on the form.  It will change to a double-headed horizontal arrow across a solid vertical bar.

·         Drag the edge of the section until it is the required size.

To change the width of the form and size of a section simultaneously

·         Move the pointer over the right-hand corner of the section.  It will change to two intersecting double-headed arrows.

·         Drag the corner of the section and form until it is the required size.