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How to Create a Query in Microsoft Access

Learn how to create a query in Microsoft Access with the Query Wizard or Design view, filter records with criteria, and run or save the results.

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To create a query in Access, choose Create > Query Wizard for a guided start or Create > Query Design for more control. Select the table or saved query that contains your data, choose the fields to display, add criteria if you want to narrow the records, then run and save the query. This workflow applies to Microsoft 365, Access 2024, 2021, 2019, and 2016.

Choose the right way to create your query

Method Best suited to Tradeoff
Query Wizard A quick, guided query with basic field selection. It offers less control; you may need to finish or adjust design elements in Design view.
Query Design Criteria, expressions, joins, summaries, and detailed editing. It takes longer and gives you more ways to misconfigure the query.

Both methods can create a select query, which retrieves records or calculates results. For a query intended to find and view data, a select query is the appropriate starting point. Action queries are different: they add, change, or delete data.

Create a basic query with the Wizard

  1. Open your database and select Create > Query Wizard.
  2. Choose Simple Query Wizard, then select OK.
  3. Choose the table or saved query that contains the fields you need. Move the desired fields into Selected Fields.
  4. If Access asks whether you want detail or summary data, choose detail to see individual records, or summary to aggregate numeric data.
  5. Name the query, choose whether to open it or modify it in Design view, and select Finish.

The Wizard is useful when you want to select fields and get a straightforward query started. If you need more control over criteria or other design details, continue in Design view.

Build or edit a query in Design view

  1. Select Create > Query Design.
  2. Add the tables or saved queries that contain the data you want.
  3. Add output fields to the design grid by dragging them from the source window or double-clicking them.
  4. If you want to limit the records, enter an expression in the Criteria row beneath the relevant field. To filter on a field without displaying it in the results, clear that field’s Show check box.
  5. Select Run on the Query Design tab. Access displays the results in Datasheet view.
  6. Adjust the fields or criteria and run the query again as needed. Save it if you want to use it later.

A select query points to data in the database rather than making a separate stored copy of the records. As Microsoft Support puts it, “A query only points to data, it does not store data.”

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Use criteria to narrow the results

A criterion is an expression Access compares with field values to decide which records to include. Enter it in the Criteria row for the field you want to filter. The expression needs to suit that field’s data type; a text criterion, for example, can match a city.

  • Conditions on the same row: When criteria appear on the same row across different fields, a record must satisfy all of them.
  • Alternative conditions: Put an alternative in the Or row or another alternative row. A record can then match either set of conditions.
  • Filter without displaying: Use the field’s criterion, then clear its Show check box if the field should not appear in the output.

Ask for a different value each time

If the query’s structure stays the same but the value changes from run to run, use a parameter criterion. For example, entering [For what city?] prompts the person running the query for a city. Specify the parameter’s data type when appropriate, especially for numeric, currency, or date/time values.

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If the condition itself changes often and you do not want to alter the saved query design, a temporary filter may be a better fit than a parameter query.

Combine data from related tables

Before building a query across tables, check that their relationships are defined. Access displays joins between related fields, and those joins determine how records from the tables are combined. Add the relevant source tables and the fields you need to the query.

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For a many-to-many relationship, the query may need the junction table that connects the two related tables, even if the output displays fields only from those two tables. If results are missing or duplicated, review the relationships and joins as well as the selected fields.

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Return totals instead of individual records

Use a detail query when you want to inspect individual records. Use a summary query when you want an aggregate result, such as a sum or average. In Design view, select Totals to add a Total row to the grid, then choose an aggregate function for fields to summarize and group by fields that define categories. Run the query to inspect the result.

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