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Use the Field List in Access – Instructions

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Use the Field List in Access: Video Lesson

            This video lesson, titled “Creating a Form in Design View,” shows how to use the Field List in Access. This video lesson is from our complete Access training, titled “Mastering Access Made Easy v.2016-2013.”

Use the Field List in Access: Overview

            You can use the Field List in Access to easily add data fields to a data entry form. Most forms are connected to an underlying table or query from which they display and/or update the table data. In form design view, you can access the list of fields available to the form within the Field List. The Field List lets you drag and drop fields onto a form to quickly add data controls to the form.

            To use the Field List in Access, first open a form in design view. Then click the “Design” tab of the “Form Design Tools” contextual tab within the Ribbon. Then click the “Add Existing Fields” button in the “Tools” button group. The “Field List” pane then appears at the right side of the form design view. If a data source is associated with the form, then its available fields appear in the “Fields available for this view:” section of the “Field List” pane.

Use the Field List in Access - Instructions: A picture of the Field List in Access.

Use the Field List in Access – Instructions: A picture of the Field List in Access.

             If there is no data source associated with the form, then click the “Show all tables” hyperlink to show all the available tables in the pane. Then click the small plus sign next to the name of the table to associate with the form. Its fields then appear in the “Field List.” Then click and drag the desired fields from the table into the form. This also associates the selected table with the form.

            When you add a field from the Field List to a form, you actually add two controls at once. The control at the left side is a text label that shows the name of the data field. The control at the right is the actual data field where the underlying data appears.

Use the Field List in Access: Instructions

  1. To use the Field List in Access, open the database that contains the form to edit in design view.
  2. Right-click the name of the form to edit in the list of forms in the Navigation Pane.
  3. Select the “Design View” command in the pop-up menu that appears to open the form in design view.
  4. To remove a control from a form, click any form control to select it and then press the “Delete” key on your keyboard.
  5. To view the Field List, if needed, click the “Design” tab of the “Form Design Tools” contextual tab within the Ribbon.
  6. Then click the “Add Existing Fields” button in the “Tools” button group.
  7. The “Field List” appears in a pane at the right side of the form design view.
  8. If you have associated a data source with the form, then the available fields appear in the “Fields available for this view:” section of the “Field List” pane.
  9. If there is no data source associated with the form, then click the “Show all tables” hyperlink to show all the available tables in the pane.
  10. Then click the small plus sign next to the name of the table to associate with the form.
  11. Its fields then appear within the Field List.
  12. To add fields from the Field List, click and drag the fields from the table into the form.
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