Using Office 2003, I'm creating a database that will contain a fair amount of
information on prospective clients. I'd like it to contain all of the
information I need, but at the same time, I'd like it to have a "quick
reference" functionality. In other words, I want it to be able to function
both as a printable quick reference and also as a source of more information
when necessary. I'd like to keep it all in a single file because the end
user may not have the ability (knowledge) to set up multiple file linking on
their system, so it needs to be self-contained. What's the best way to
accomplish this?

On May 3, 4:30 pm, Merche wrote:
Using Office 2003, I'm creating a database that will contain a fair amount of
information on prospective clients. I'd like it to contain all of the
information I need, but at the same time, I'd like it to have a "quick
reference" functionality. In other words, I want it to be able to function
both as a printable quick reference and also as a source of more information
when necessary. I'd like to keep it all in a single file because the end
user may not have the ability (knowledge) to set up multiple file linking on
their system, so it needs to be self-contained. What's the best way to
accomplish this?

Hello there.

I have done something similar in the past and still use this following
style in my present day applications.

I would suggest that you continue with your MAIN database and complete
that first.

Then, when you have all the necessary info together, you can use a
Concatenate Function to bring it all out and into a "Summary"
report.

The main difference is that Database will be your typical setup

IE:

Name Field Address Field Type Field.
John 123 any st. Customer
Tim 456 This st. Supplier

With the Concate, you can now bring it all together in a "English"
"spoken" style. IE

=concatenate(A1,", Living at",B1," and is a ",C1," contact."

When finished, it should read something like this;

John, Living at 123 any st. and is a Customer contact.

The above is a very basic example but if you string multiple concates
together you will have a "Paragraph" of information that when read,
will make sense and is alot easier to remember in this format then in
a standard Databse list format.

At first it might be a little confusing when stringing together your
data information, but the key to stringing your info together is to
have it all in a list style somewhere secretly off your viewable sheet
and RIGHT align your text, then right beside that, left align the data
that will be coming back into the text.

This way you can make one sentence at a time (and per row) and then
when your ready to bring it all in, your now just pointing and
clicking with your mouse.

Hope that helps!

PS: This is a fine art, don't get disscouraged if you cant get it
right away. Master it and you will see the value this process can
bring you in the future!

-LT

Thanks for the reply, but I don't think your solution will work for me. I'll
try to be more clear. I don't just need to make the existing information
shorter and easier to read, I need to have one set of data included in the
the "quick reference" portion of the database, and completely different,
additional data about the same subject elsewhere in the database, available
when the user needs more than a cursory review of the subject. This is for a
not for profit seeking funding from many sources, so for example, the simple
database will include a name, contact info., deadlines, and several other
pieces of similar basic info. The complete database will include information
about this funder like past funding history, proposal guidelines, interests
of the particular foundation, etc. - information that is too cumbersome to
include on the quick review, but that is important for the client to know
when they want to approach the funder.

The best solution I have in mind is to create a database of complete data
with a mirror database at the A1 position that simply reflects certain cells
from the more complete section further down. I see two problems with this:
1) Since the database will contain many subjects, this will be very
time-consuming to set up, with a different set of cell references for each
row in the "quick reference"; 2) I'd like to be able to set up a hot key so
the user can jump from the simple to the more complete set of data for a
particular subject, but I don't know how to do that.