6.7: Action Queries

Action Query is a category that MS Access uses to distinguish queries that can modify the data in the database. We discuss the query types: Make-Table, Append, Delete, and Update. To create such a query, one typically starts with a Simple Query that is subsequently changed (by clicking the pertinent button) to an Action Query type. You will notice as you experiment running action queries that MS Access gives a warning message asking you to confirm the changes the query will make to the database. The reason for this is that you cannot click some Undo button to undo such changes as you can in other Office applications. To undo a database action query, you need to design and execute a compensating action query.

When you are in Design View for some query you will see the buttons for changing the query type: