Creating and Saving AutoForms


The AutoForm Wizard is the quickest and easiest way to create a form. There are five types of AutoForms: Columnar, Tabular, Datasheet, PivotTable, and PivotChart. The Columnar Form is the default format.



To use the AutoForm Wizard to create a columnar form:

  1. Display the Tables window.
  2. Select the table you want to base the form on.
  3. Click the New Object:AutoForm toolbar button. (If the New Object toolbar button is not in the AutoForm state, click the New Object arrow and select AutoForm.)
  4. Access automatically creates a columnar form based on the table you selected.
  5. Close the form by clicking the Close box in the upper right corner.
  6. Access will automatically prompt you to save the form.


Notice that the New Object toolbar button changes. Click the arrow to select the type of object you want. The button will change to reflect the most recent object type. If you want that type of object again, you can click the button rather than the arrow.

You can use AutoForm to create one of the other types of forms:

  1. Select the table you want to base the form on.
  2. Select Form from the Insert menu (or click the New Object toolbar button arrow and select Form).
  3. Click the Autoform format that you want to use.
  4. Click OK.

Even though Access will prompt you to save the form when you close it, you should make a habit of periodically saving your forms if you are doing a lot of data entry. To save the form:

  1. Click the Save toolbar button.
  2. Use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + S.
  3. Click the File menu, and select Save.
If you are saving the form for the first time, Access will ask you to enter a name. A useful practice is to name the form the same as the table that it is based on.