Microsoft Access Interview Questions

A list of top frequently asked Microsoft Access interview questions and answers are given below.

1) What is Microsoft Access database?

Microsoft Access database is a relational database management system which combines GUI (Graphical User Interface) with Microsoft Jet database engine. It can import and use data from Access, SQL, Oracle, etc.

This software is used to build application software.

2) How to import data from other sources into Access database?

Follow the instructions given below to import data from other sources into Access database:

• Go to main menu, click on EXTERNAL DATA, in the Import and Link group.
• Choose the type of the file that you want to import.
• Follow the instruction in the Get External Data wizard to know which type of file can import or link Access database.

3) What are the several file extensions in MS Access?

Following are the six file extensions in MS Access:

• Access workgroup.mdw
• Access database.accdb
• Access Workgroup.mdw
• Access blank project template.adn
• Access project.adp
• Protected access database.accde

4) What is the size limitation for an Access database?

The size limitation of Access 2.0 database is 1 gigabyte.

5) Which technique is used to increase the size of database?

Replication is used to increase the size of database.

6) What are the most important uses of MS Access?

Uses of MS Access:

• MS Access is used as frontend when the backend is product of ODBC compliant.
• MS Access is widely used for small database applications that are based on web and hosted on IIS by making use of ASP.NET pages.
• Mainly, it is used by small firms and businesses, specific departments in large organizations and some people for developing applications on desktop for data applications.
• It can be used as RAD while developing stand alone applications and prototype.

7) What is a super key? How is it different from a candidate key?

A superkey is a set of attributes within a table whose values can be used to uniquely identify a tuple. On the other hand, a candidate key is a minimal set of attributes mandatory to identify a tuple.

A candidate key is also called a minimal super key.

8) What type of relationship can be formed between different data?

The data within the table can build three type of relationship:

• One-to-one relationships: This relationship specifies that a single data in one table is linked with a single data in another table.
• One-to-many relationship: This relationship specifies that a single data in a table is linked to several data in another table.
• Many-to-many relationship: This relationship specifies that several data in one table is related to several other data in another table.

9) What are the protection features of MS Access?

MS Access protection features are used to protect some documents by locking them. If you do not want to change some document then you can lock the document containing data and its code from modifications by changing file system extension to .MDE. Only the MDE extension files can be changed. One can find specific tools in the market that can be used to decompile and unlock code but changes made to VB scripts are permanent.

10) How can you build a relationship between the different databases in Access?

When a relationship is established between two data, the first table for your data is referred as the primary key while the new field in another data is called a foreign key.

11) What are queries in MS Access?

Queries are used as a medium of manipulating the data to display in the form or report. Queries are used to insert data, update data, delete data, sort, calculate, filter, join etc.

12) How to create a simple query in MS Access 2013?

Follow these instructions to create a simple query in Access 2013:

1. Open your database.
2. Go to -create tab.
3. Click on the query wizard icon.
4. Select a query type.
5. From the pull-down menu choose the appropriate table.
6. Select the field you want in the query results.
7. To add information from additional tables, repeat steps 5 and 6
8. Click on next.
9. Choose the type of results that you would like to produce.
10. Give your query a title.
11. Click on finish.

13) How can you export data in Excel format?

Follow these instructions to export data in Excel format:

• Go to the toolbar, click on the External Data tab.
• Click Excel on the Export group.
• It will open the export excel spreadsheet dialog box.
• Specify the destination of the file name and format.
• Click OK to export the data to Excel spreadsheet.

14) How can you create a table using MAOL (Microsoft Access Object Library)?

To create a table using MAOL, take a variable of type object and then initialize it with the CreateTableDef() method of the recent database object. This technique takes argument as the name of the table.

15) How can you create a form in MS Access 2013?

Forms are used to insert data across multiple tables. There are a lot of methods for creating forms but with Form Wizard method, you can always modify the form later using Design View.

Follow these instructions to create a form:

• Go to main menu, click on CREATE and then choose the FORM option.
• It will create a new form in Layout view, based on the fields in the Customer table.
• Scroll the drop down arrow under the View icon and select Form View. By this user will see the form.
• On the form, you will see fields like CustomerId, First Name, Last Name and Date Created etc.
• After filling of all details in the form, you can see the newly created record with data in the table.
• Once you completed filling the field in the form, click on the save button on the top of the ribbon.

16) What is the use of Pivot table?

Pivot table is used for improving the presentation of data. By using Pivot table, you can view data multi-dimensionally. A Pivot table can summarize the data by categories and display trends spread over a range of categories.

17) What are the several methods to enter data in MS Access 2013?

Different methods to enter data in MS Access are:

• Datasheet View
• Form
• SQL View
• Import from External Data (XML, Data Services, HTML etc.)

18) Would you easily automate your MS Access database through menu driven selections?

You can do it by creating a form with customized buttons that point to macros. An easier way is to use MS Access' built in function called "Switchboard Manager". This can be located in Tools/Add-Ins.

19) What is the use of WHERE clause in MS Access?

• WHERE clause is used with the SELECT statement to retrieve a value with certain criteria. For example, if you want to find the address of a particular customer, but you only remember his last name that is Kumar. So, instead of searching all the fields in the table, use WHERE clause to retrieve the address of the customer.

WHERE [LAST_NAME] = 'Kumar'

• It s not possible to link or join fields that have dissimilar data types. To link data from two different data sources, depending on values in fields that have different data types; a WHERE clause is created that uses one field as a criteria for the other field, by using LIKE keyword.

20) What are the advantages of MS Access over MS SQL Server?

Advantages of MS Access over MS SQL Server:

• With a small number of users, MS Access is easy to handle and suited for desktop use.
• Compatibility and sharing is easy in MS Access as compare to MS SQL Server.
• Generally, SQL server is used by developers and in a bigger organization.
• MS Access is cheaper than MS SQL.
• MS Access requires less database administration.