(We just answered our own question!) A query is a question that is asked of a database control program about the data it contains. We specify what particular fields we are interested in finding out, tell the database where to look for those fields, and specify any conditions under which to search.

Queries are primarily built from tables, but Access gives you the ability to construct a query based on the results of another query. Such ‘nested queries’ may require more computer memory and resources in order to execute but if constructed with care, can save a lot of time, especially when dealing with very large databases. For the purposes of this manual, we will keep things simple and stick to small and simple queries. Plus, the beauty of queries is that they are only questions asked about data that is already there. If you get query results back that are completely off the mark, no problem – your data is untouched, so provided there is no design flaw in your database, only the query needs to be adjusted.