Three practical tips for Access 2002

To change the default properties of a control in access
Lisa Friedrichsen, Overland Park, Kansas

If you want to customize the text box labels that you use when you design a Microsoft Access form, this tip will show you how to do this:

1. Open a form in Design view.
2. Click the text box tool on the Toolbox .
3. Click the Properties button on the Form Design toolbar to open the property sheet for the text box .
4. In the Auto label box, click No .

Editor's note: You can change the default properties of any control with the same technique.

Convert your Access database for better performance
Daniel Jang, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Access 2002 automatically stores all of your database files in Access 2000 format, which is important for smaller databases and allows you to share your database files with Access 2000 users.

However, if you do not intend to share your database with Access 2000 users, or if you are creating a large database, you can get better performance by converting the database to the new Access 2002 format. Access 2002 creates a separate database file for you in the new format, and remains intact for your original database.

Convert your database to an Access 2002 file format as follows:

1. On the Tools menu, point to the Database utility .
2. Point to the conversion database .
3. Click to convert to Access 2002 file format .

Print a diagram of a report in Access 2002
Regina Fortuniewicz, Ossining, New York

The proper design of reports and their relationships is critical to building a good database. Access 2002 can help you evaluate your design by generating a graphical representation of the report relationships in the database.

1. In the Tools menu, click Relationship .
2. In the file menu, click Print Relationship . A report is generated that shows the relationships they show in the relationship window.
3. If you want, you can save or print the report, and then close the Report window.
4. Closes the Relationships window.