This icon indicates a topic that covers a Microsoft Office Specialist exam objective.

This icon indicates a new or greatly improved feature in Microsoft Office Access 2003.

This icon indicates a reference to the book’s companion CD.

BE SURE TO

These words are found at the beginning of paragraphs preceding or following step-by-step exercises. They point out items you should check or actions you should carry out either before beginning an exercise or after completing an exercise.

USE OPEN

These words are found at the beginning of paragraphs preceding step-by-step exercises. They draw your attention to practice files that you’ll need to use in the exercise.

CLOSE

This word is found at the beginning of paragraphs following step-by-step exercises. They give instructions for closing open files or programs before moving on to another topic.

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Numbered steps guide you through hands-on exercises in each topic.

A round bullet indicates an exercise that has only one step.

Troubleshooting

These paragraphs show you how to fix a common problem that might prevent you from continuing with the exercise.

Tip

These paragraphs provide a helpful hint or shortcut that makes working through a task easier.

Important

These paragraphs point out information that you need to know to complete a procedure.

The first time you are told to click a button in an exercise, a picture of the button appears in the left margin. If the name of the button does not appear on the button itself, the name appears under the picture.

A plus sign (+) between two key names means that you must hold down the first key while you press the second key. For example, "press " means "hold down the key while you press the key."

Black bold characters

In steps, the names of program elements, such as buttons, commands, and dialog boxes, are shown in black bold characters.

Blue bold characters

Anything you are supposed to type appears in blue bold characters.

Blue italic characters

Terms that are explained in the glossary at the end of the book are shown in blue italic characters.