【 Customize Form Design View in Access 】 Guide ▷ 2022

Today, one of the best programs of present in the computing environment, it is . This refers to a tool available in the office suite of Microsoft Y It is characterized by functioning as an optimal data management systemthus facilitating the creation of database documents.

Therefore, it allows search, organize and present any type of information, in a technical way. In addition, it is useful for collecting data in an intuitive and agile way, as well as for enrich these documents through the different elements provided by. Such as: the queries, the , the reports and the .

Added to this, it has been classified as an ideal program for be able to customize the user experience, according to the requirements of each person. That is why it offers the possibility to adjust the design view of forms to easily customize them and here, we will show you how it is done.

What is form design view and what is it for in Access databases?

While it is true, the Design view in databases Access is defined as a more detailed view that the program provides to purchase certain benefits. Since, from it, you will be able to visualize the structure of the form in a more precise, optimal and effective way. In this sense, it allows look at the header, detail, and footer sections of each formso it is very useful. In addition to this, it is a panel that It is used to carry out some tasks in a simpler way.

These tasks consist of:

Modify the size of the form sections. That is, from the details section or the header, for example.
Change certain properties of the form in question. Which, by default, cannot be changed in the Presentation view (either in “Allow form view” or through “Default View”).
Add a greater variety of controls to the Access form. Such as: images, lines, rectangles and labels.
Edit text box control sources in the text boxes themselves, without having to use the property sheet.

Learn step by step how to customize your forms from the design view of Microsoft Access

In case you didn’t already know, it is essential that you understand that, in order to make any changes to the design or structure of a form in Access in order to personalize it, it is mandatory to enter Design view. Since, the property sheet of the field is the one that offers access to various properties that can be adjusted to style the form.

That is why, to make any of the changes that we will explain below, first of all, you will have to switch to the view Design to run it from there. To do this, simply click the name of the form via the navigation pane and at the bottom right, select “Design View”.

Thus, it begins to make any of the following adjustments:

Add table or query fields to the form design

For this, you can make use of the Field List panel, just by performing the steps mentioned below:

On the program’s ribbon, click on the “Design” tab belonging to the Table Tools group.
After that, proceed to select “Add existing fields” Y press the keyboard shortcut “Alt + F8”.
You can then start dragging the fields directly from the Field List panel to the form. If you only want to add one field, double click on it and drag it to the section of the form where you want it to appear.
On the other hand, for add multiple fields simultaneouslyyou must hold down the key “Ctrl” and click on the fields you want to add. Afterwards, all that remains is to drag the chosen fields to the form.

Customize the header of the forms

The header of a form is the one that displays the name of the table or query that originated said form and is located at the top. Which, it is possible to customize by modifying its size and width. In this sense, for freely resize a form headerin order to increase or decrease it, you have to enter the Design view and click by holding the main mouse button on its bottom edge until you get the new desired size based on its height.

Added to this, you can also vary the width of the header. In this case, in the rest of the elements will also be adjusted, automatically, to keep the proportions. Thus, you will only have to click by holding the main mouse button from the right edge to the new position that you prefer. Also, for further customization, you can add any controls inside the form headers (either: labels, text boxes, check boxes, etc.) and modify its properties.

For which, you will have to access the property sheet in the Design tab and from there, change what you want between the following alternatives:

Background color: Used to modify the background color of the form header or assign one. Thus, you will only have to press the button that contains three points to view the palette of default color schemes and choose one of them.
special effect: Allows you to add an effect to the background of the header. For that, you can choose several available options and customize it (non-embossed, bas-embossed, embossed, engraved, shadowed, chiselled, etc. But, these designs will only be displayed in the Form View.
show when: It is useful to define when you want the header to be displayed (always, only when printing or only on screen).

Insert tags manually

In the forms of Access, labels are one of the most used controls because each field requires one of them to display your name or identification. That’s why, to set up the Form Design view effectively, you can also insert tags manually. In this way, the user will see the text in question and you will not be able to modify it, They are for informational purposes only..

So, to add such tags, it is necessary to perform the following procedure:

in the tab Design, go to the Controls group.
Next, Click on “Label” and click holding on a section of the form, either the Header, Detail or Footer.
After creating the label frame, you simply have to enter the text you want to display and ready.
Next, if you want to modify the text format of the labels, go to the Font group of the contextual tab. There, you can choose the font, color, size, alignment and even the background color.

Add separate text boxes

Although the text boxes that are produced at the time of create the form are of type boundgiven that its content is in the hands of the registered securities; Access allows you to insert separate text boxes that contain data that does not rely on values stored in a particular field, but instead has the ability to admit data entry display the result of a calculation, for instance.

To execute it, the steps to follow consist of:

To startproceeds to select Text Box, inside the Controls group. This, from the tab Design.
Thereafter, click by holding a section of the form and thus, automatically, a label will be created.
Next, to fix your identificationproceed to enter the text you want.
Next, you can increase or decrease the width of the fieldthrough the checkpoints. This, if the size is greater or smaller than the content, respectively.

On the other hand, if you want to make the text box bound so that it displays information based on some field, you have to use the Source property of the control. Through it, you can establish that the content is linked to the information stored in a specific field.