Linking tables

Hello Lauren
Thank you for your question

Here is a link giving instructions on how to link two databases together:
http://www.ehow.com/how_13633_link-data-another.html

Linking tables within one database is done so that you can report on the data and get full records out of the database without duplicating. For example, i have a customer table with all customers and an order table with all orders. I want to know what customer made the order so rather than adding a field called customer name into the orders table, I would add the customerID field from the customer table to the order table and link them on this field. I can then write a query and report showing the order and the customer details who made the order. One customer might have placed ten orders and this method means I only need to add the customer details once in the customer table and link, rather than adding the customer name each time to the order table. (It would inevitably get spelt wrong on some orders etc and would end up in a mess!)

Without linking the tables this would not work. So its very much about learning how to seperate out the data to minimise duplication while still getting out all the information you need.

If this resolves your question, please mark it as resolved. If not, please reply with more information.

Kind regards
Cress