Microsoft Office

Part V
Analyzing Data with Excel
FIGURE 33.3
An Access table, imported into Excel.
Retrieving Data with Query: An Example
This section discusses Microsoft Query, an application that ships with Excel. Use Query to import a subset
of a database.
To perform queries using external databases, Microsoft Query must be installed on your system.
(This program is included with Excel.) If Query isn’t installed, you’re prompted to install
it when you first choose Data ➪ Get External Data ➪ From Other Sources ➪ From Microsoft Query.
NOTE
The best way to become familiar with Microsoft Query is to walk through an example. In the following sections,
you learn how to use Query to open a database file and import a specified set of records.
ON the CD-ROM
The database file used in this example is available on the companion CD-ROM. It’s an Access
2007 file named budget data.accdb.
The database file
The database file used in this example is a single-table Access file that consists of 31,680 records. This table
contains the following fields:
n
n
n
n
Sort: A numeric field that holds record sequence numbers.
Division: A text field that specifies the company division (either Asia, Europe, N. America, Pacific
Rim, or S. America).
Department: A text field that specifies the department within the division. Each division is organized
into the following departments: Accounting, Advertising, Data Processing, Human Resources,
Operations, Public Relations, R&D, Sales, Security, Shipping, and Training.
Category: A text field that specifies the budget category. The four categories are Compensation,
Equipment, Facility, and Supplies & Services.
578