Microsoft Access 2003 - Create a Database

See Microsoft Access Tutorial for a tutorial on a more recent version of Access.

Creating a database in Microsoft Access is relatively straightforward. This lesson demonstrates how to create a database.

  1. You may notice that, whenever you start Microsoft Access, you see the following screen. In this case, you can simply select "Blank Database".
    MS Access 2003: Creating a new database in Access - step 1a

    If you already have Access open, you can go to the "File" menu and click on "New Database":
    MS Access 2003: Creating a new database in Access - step 1

  2. Choose "Blank Database". (Skip this step if you already chose "Blank Database" at step one). You also have the ability to choose from a template, but we'll just use a blank database here:
    MS Access 2003: Creating a new database in Access - step 2
  3. Choose a location to save the database:
    MS Access 2003: Creating a new database in Access - step 3

Your New Database

Once you've completed the above tasks, you should see a blank database, like this:

MS Access 2003: Creating a new database in Access - step 4

We know this database is blank because it doesn't have any tables. If it did, you would see these tables in the middle pane of the table tab. Now that we have our blank database, we can start adding some tables.


Update

Since this tutorial was written, there have been many subsequent updates to Access. Here's the latest Access tutorial.