Use an Access function to add a new field to your table

by Mary Ann Richardson | May 30, 2006 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Microsoft Office, Databases, Mary Ann Richardson, Microsoft Access, Microsoft Office Suite Access Tips Newsletter

Takeaway: You need to add a new field to a table in your Access database, but you don't have time to manually update hundreds of records. Discover how easy it is to add the field to your table.

You are sending form letters to all your employees regarding their pension benefits. You need to let them know their exact vesting date, but the Access employee database table does not list that date. The table does, however, list the employees' hire dates. Since you know that employees are vested after 10 years of service, you can quickly add this data to the table by following these steps:

1. Open the Employees database and click on Queries in the database window.
2. Click New, select Design View, and then click OK.
3. Select the Employees table and click Add, and then click Close.
4. Double-click each of the fields in the Employees table to add them to the Field cells.
5. Click the next empty Field: cell and enter the following expression:
   

   Date_vested: DateAdd("yyyy",10,Employees![Hire Date])

When you run the query, it will include a new field, Date_vested, with the specific date for each particular employee. You can use the Make_table option in the Query Design screen to create a new table from this query.

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