SUMMARY
The Microsoft Knowledge Base contains a wealth of information about all Microsoft products and technologies. This article introduces you, the Access 2002 user, to the Microsoft Knowledge Base and gives you tips to find the information and the technical answers that you are looking for.
Note that this article applies only to Access 2002. The information and standards that this article describes may not apply to other Microsoft products.
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What exactly is the Knowledge Base?
The Microsoft Knowledge Base is a database of technical articles about Microsoft products and technologies. These articles range from "How to" articles that describe how to complete a specific task to "Bug" articles that document known issues with Microsoft products. Many people refer to the Microsoft Knowledge Base by just the letters "KB."
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Where is the Knowledge Base located?
The Microsoft Knowledge Base is available at the following Microsoft Web site:
Developers might also be familiar with the Knowledge Base on the Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) CD. The Knowledge Base is available both on the MSDN Library CDs and at the following MSDN Web site:
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Who uses the Knowledge Base?
The Knowledge Base is used by Microsoft Support professionals and Microsoft customers of all types, from novices to experts. The Knowledge Base is a valuable resource for users of any Microsoft product or technology.
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How do I search the Knowledge Base?
For an explanation of how to search the Knowledge Base, see the "Search Tips" section later in this article. You can also find useful search tips by reading the "Obtaining the Best Search Results" section of the following Web page:
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Why do some articles mention only one version of Access although they apply to multiple versions?
Starting with Access 2000, the Access Content group started creating version-specific articles. That is, any article discusses an issue for only one version of Access. Therefore, there may be more that one article about the same topic.
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What do the various title prefixes mean?
The title prefixes for Access indicate which version the article deals with, as follows:
- ACC - Applies to any number of versions of Access between Access 1.0 and Access 97, inclusively
- ACC2 - Applies only to Access 2.0
- ACC95 - Applies only to Access for Windows 95, which is also known as Access 7.0
- ACC97 - Applies only to Access 97
- ACC2000 - Applies only to Access 2000
- ACC2002 - Applies only to Access 2002
- HOW TO - Applies to any "How To" article for any version of Access between Access 97 and Access 2002, inclusively
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Search Tips
Here are some additional suggestions to help you search the KB:
- Refine your search. Frequently, your first search attempt returns too many or too few articles. You can frequently get a better list of articles by adding or removing query words.
- Search for all versions of Access. If you start searching by selecting a specific version of Access and you cannot find what you are looking for, search by selecting just Access (no version number) as the product. There may be a version-specific article that covers the topic. For additional information, see the "Why do some articles mention only one version of Access although they apply to multiple versions?" section earlier in this article.
- Extend the search about Setup issues. Select Microsoft Office as the product when you are looking for Setup-related issues. The stand-alone version of Access uses the same Setup program that Microsoft Office uses. Therefore, you are more likely to find Setup-related issues under Office instead of under Access.
- Search other products. If you cannot find an article when you select Access as the product, and if the issue you are looking for can also apply to another product, search under that other product also. For example, if your issue involves programming in conjunction with another product such as Microsoft Outlook, try searching with Outlook as the product.
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Additional Microsoft Resources
If you have not found the information that you need in the Microsoft Knowledge Base, try one of the following additional Microsoft resources:
- Product-Specific Pages - There are product-specific pages that show the frequently asked questions (FAQs) and highlights of a product. To view the Access 2002 FAQ and Highlights page, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
- MSDN Web Site - The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) contains information that is particularly useful to developers. To search MSDN, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
- In-Product Help - The in-product Help files contain lots of information that you may find useful.For additional information about using the Access 2002 in-product Help, click the article number below
to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
290130 ACC2002: Finding Help Topics in Microsoft Access 2002
307771 ACC2002: Microsoft Access Newsgroups Available on the Internet
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