What AutoForms and the Form Wizard do for you is get all the fields you want onto a form. Once there, you may not like the way they look.Fortunately, character formatting is one of the easiest editing tasks you can do to a form.
Character formatting
Some character formatting can be done in Form view and you do not even have to deal with Design view. Specifically, you can change the background color, or border of any control containing data from a field by selecting the field and using the buttons on the formatting toolbar.Despite the convenience of changing formats in Form view, I find that I prefer Design view whereI can get all my formatting tasks done, including formatting labels. Access also has a number of AutoFormats that you can use to format your form.
Changing character formatting in Access is a similar process to changing character formatting in any Microsoft Office application.
First, you select the control you want to work with, then use the appropriate buttons and options on the formatting toolbar to change the format. The following MouseOver explains what the other options do.
AutoFormats in Access
Access has a number of AutoFormats that you can use to format your form. The formats such as Industrial and Standard that you see in the Form Wizard are the formats that you have available. Here is how to use AutoFormats:
Select the control(s) you want to format. You can select all the controls in the form by clicking the top-left corner, a gray box, of the design grid. This box is on the same row as the horizontal ruler. You can select just a section of the form (such as the Detail section) by clicking the section bar.
Click the AutoFormat button
AutoFormat button
to display the AutoFormats available.
Select an AutoFormat and you will see a sample of the format on the right of the dialog box.
Click OK to apply the AutoFormat to the selected controls.
Access Formatting toolbar
Access formatting toolbar
Location 1
Shows the current control selected
Location 2
Choose a font from the list
Location 3
Choose a font size from the list
Location 4
Makes the selected control bold
Location 5
Makes the selected control italic
Location 6
Makes the selected control underlined
Location 7
Left justifies the text within the control
Location 8
Centers the text within the control
Location 9
Right justifies the text within the control
Location 10
Select a background color for the control
Location 11
Select a font color for the control
Location 12
Select a border or line color for the control
Location 13
Select a border or line width for the control
Location 14
Choose from more options, including Special Effects
Ater you change the format of a control you may find that you need to resize it. Once a control is formatted, you can use the Format Painter button to copy the format and apply it other controls. In the next lesson, learn to create a calculated control on your form.
Copying formatting in Access
Once a control is formatted, you do not have to repeat that formatting for other controls that you want formatted the same way. Instead you can use the Format Painter button to copy the formatting:
Select and format the control.
Click the Format Painter button
Format Painter button
once if you are copying the format to one control (double-click if you are copying to multiple controls).
Click the control(s) to which you want to copy the format.
If you double-clicked the Format Painter, click it again now to turn it off. If you single clicked, it turns off automatically.
