MS Access —

Using Undo

Undoing a record edit.

You may not want to admit this, but you're going to make mistakes when you use Access. You might accidentally delete a record you didn't mean to delete or paste something you didn't mean to paste. Fortunately, Access has a wonderful feature called that does just that. Your mistakes disappear! This lesson explains how to undo both single and multiple mistakes and how to redo your actions in case you change your mind.

It's important to note that the feature in Access isn't nearly as powerful as it is in other Microsoft Office programs. In Microsoft Access 2003, Undo will only reverse the last action or command you made. If you make a mistake and don't catch it right away, chances are you won't be able to use Undo to correct it. If that weren't bad enough, Access can't even undo many actions! For example, if you delete a record and then decide you want to use Undo to retrieve the record, you're out of luck. (To its credit, Access does warn you whenever you delete a record that you will not be able to use Undo to bring it back.) Hopefully Microsoft will fix these problems in the next version of Access.

Here's how to use Undo:

  1. If it isn't already open, open the Employees table.

    First we need to make a "mistake" that we can undo...

  2. Find the Robert King record. Select the LastName field for Robert King and type Queen.

    Don't remember how to edit a record? Click the left edge of Robert King's LastName cell to select it and type "Queen." Press Tab when you're finished.

    The Robert King is now Robert Queen. Whoops! Somebody's played a joke on you better change Robert's last name back to "King" before he sees it. Here's how you can undo your "mistake."

  3. Click the Undo button on the toolbar.

    Other ways to undo are to press Ctrl + Z, or select Edit » Undo from the menu.

Poof! The LastName field changes back to the original "King," as shown in figure. That's all there is to using Undo in Access.

TO UNDO YOUR LAST ACTION:

  • CLICK THE UNDO BUTTON ON THE TOOLBAR.

OR...

  • SELECT EDIT » UNDO FROM THE MENU.

OR...

  • PRESS CTRL + Z.