Base

Set a field as primary key To set the primary key, right-click the grey box to the left of the field you want to set as primary key. Check the ‘Primary Key’ option and a yellow key symbol will appear in the grey box. It’s a good idea to set the primary key to an…

Create a table To create a table, click ‘Tables’ in the Database area. Then click ‘Create Table in Design View’ from the Tasks area to open table design window. In this example, we’re going to create a table that holds data on company employees. It will contain basic details on employees such as name, gender,…

Add or delete records in a table To add a record, click a cell in the table. Enter valid data into the cell, for instance, for Start Date, make sure you enter it in a date format. If you move down to the next row, and the ID is set to Integer auto-value, the next…

View a table in design mode Right click the table, query, form or report in the relevant area and select ‘Edit’ This will open the table, query, form or report in a design mode window Navigate between records in a table, query, form Use the navigation toolbar to navigate between records in a table, query…

Tables Tables are used to store records (pieces of data) within a database. Records are entered into tables under fields that are created when editing the table. Fields are similar to the headings given to columns in a spreadsheet. An unlimited number of tables can be created in a database, containing different types of data.…

AND A logical operator that is used in queries to state that values must satisfy all of the set criteria. Autovalue A feature that can be attributed to data under a certain field (often the primary key) of a table that will automatically create a unique number for each entry. Best used with ‘integer’ data…

Open a database application To start LibreOffice Base, search from the ‘Start’ menu or find the LibreOffice folder and click the LibreOffice Base icon. Open an existing database To open an existing database, choose the option ‘open an existing database file’ from the wizard, which is the first screen you see. Choose a file from…

Key Concepts A database is a collection of data stored in tables to be easily accessed, managed, and updated. Examples might be a shop’s stock inventory or airline booking system. Tables are split up into records (rows) and fields (columns) A database offers more complex ways of using data than spreadsheets and data can be…