Don't let Design View scare you. It looks more complicated than it really is. Think of the form as your canvas and the control buttons as paintbrushes for adding fields, text boxes, and buttons to the form.
Any graphic object that appears on forms and reports is called a control. A text box used to enter and display information, a text label, and a button you click to print a report would all be examples of controls. Let’s look at how to add controls in Design View.
See the table below for a list of some of the controls you can add and what they do.
Controls
Select
Click this button and then click the control you want to select. To select multiple controls, click this button and hold down the Shift key as you click each control, or drag a rectangle around all controls you want to select.
Text Box
Creates a text box that displays information from a table and query. You can also use text boxes to simply enter text.
Label
Creates a static text label that is the same for every record, such as a heading. Most controls already have a text label attached.
Button
Creates a button that runs a macro or Visual Basic function.
Tab Control
Enables you to create tabs (like the ones found in some dialog boxes) to include more than one page of controls on the form.
Hyperlink
Inserts a link to a webpage or file.
Web Browser Control
Inserts a control that allows the database user to access the computer’s web browser.
Navigation Control
Creates a control that allows the form to be navigated.
Option Group
Creates a box around a group of option buttons so that the user is only allowed to make one selection from the group box.
Insert Page Break
Inserts a page break.
Combo Box
Creates a drop-down box that lets the user enter text or select an item from a list of options.
Chart
Inserts a chart.
Line
Enables you to draw a line.
Toggle Button
Creates a toggle button that allows you to display and enter data from a Yes/No field.
List Box
Creates a box that lets the user select an item from a list of options.
Rectangle
Enables you to draw a rectangle.
Check box
Creates a box that is checked or unchecked. Use to enter data from a Yes/No field.
Unbound Object Frame
Inserts an OLE object that is not bound to a field in the current database. Use an Unbound Object Frame to display information from an external source or program, such as a spreadsheet, graphic, or other file.
Attachment
Provides the option to include an attachment.
Option Button
Creates an option button (or radio button) that allows the user to make a single selection from two or more choices. Option buttons are normally used with the Option Group control.
Subform/Subreport
Inserts another form within the main form. Use when you want to show data from a one-to-many relationship.
Bound Object Frame
Inserts an OLE object that is bound to a field in the database. Use Bound Object Frames to display pictures or other OLE information in the database.
Image
Displays a picture or graphic file that you specify.