1.2.1 Modifying Rows

With the Book table open in MS Access and with the cursor positioned in a row, try modifying the data recorded for that book. If you position the mouse cursor you can change the value recorded for the book’s call number, title or author. Try doing this – remember you can always download this database again if you wish to get back to what you started with. As you begin modifying a value (e.g., adding an ‘s’ to make the last name Matthews) an editing symbol appears to the left of the row:

If you recognize that you are making a mistake you can undo your editing action by pressing the Escape key.

To make your change permanent you must move the cursor to another row for the update to be completed – when you do this, you will note the editing symbol disappears.

In some situations, you will find MS Access provides a formal Undo capability. Consider the following figure that shows an Undo icon in the upper left corner that appeared after Matthew was changed to Matthews and the cursor moved to the next row: