Show or hide object tabs

Microsoft Office Access 2007 provides a new way to work with the tables, forms, reports, and other objects in a database. Instead of opening each object in a separate window, Access now places objects in a single pane and separates them with tabs. Tabs are the default behavior for all databases created with Office Access 2007.

In this article

Understand tabs

Why hide tabs?

Show or hide object tabs without using overlapping windows

Switch from tabs to overlapping windows

Understand tabs

When you create a new database in Office Access 2007, by default, Access displays the objects in that database — the forms, reports, tables, and queries — in a single window, and it separates each open object with a tab. To move among the open objects, you click the tabs.

This figure shows a typical set of tabs. Remember that the colors may vary.

The tabs help keep open objects visible and accessible. Earlier versions of Access display objects in separate overlapping windows. Those windows tend to obscure each other and make some objects hard to find. Tabs help solve that problem by remaining visible at all times.

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Why hide tabs?

Typically, you hide object tabs for two reasons.

• You want to customize the look and feel of a database. For example, suppose you want to create a set of buttons that allow users to navigate around your database. Tabs may make the database look cluttered or interfere with your design, so you hide the tabs.

• When you like the look and feel of older versions of Access. Office Access 2007 doesn't provide a "classic" view, but overlapping windows have the same look and feel as the windows in earlier versions of Access.

Note: You can hide tabs and not display overlapping windows. However, if you do so, Access does not provide the Close buttons that normally appear in the corners of your open objects . If you hide tabs and remain in single-document view, you must provide another way for users to close any open windows. For example, you can provide your own buttons or instruct your users to press CTRL+F4.

You hide tabs and work with overlapping windows by changing databases settings in the Access Options dialog box. Remember that changing the settings affects only the open database.

The following sections explain how to hide document tabs and use overlapping windows.

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Show or hide object tabs without using overlapping windows

Remember that following this procedure hides the Close button that normally appears in the corner of the open object window. If you select this option, you should provide other ways to close the window.

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Access Options.

   The Access Options dialog box appears.

2. Click Current Database.

3. In the Application Options section, clear the Display Document Tabs check box.

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Switch from tabs to overlapping windows

1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Access Options.

   The Access Options dialog box appears.

2. Click Current Database.

3. In the Application Options section, under Document Window Options, click Overlapping Windows.

   Note: When you select this option, Access clears the Display Document Tabs check box automatically.

Note: 

• You must open a database in order to hide document tabs or enable overlapping windows.

• If you or the database designer set the database to display overlapping windows by default, you can not enable document tabs.

• When you open databases created in previous versions of Access, document tabs are automatically turned off. To turn them on, reverse the steps in Switch from tabs to overlapping windows above, and then close and reopen the database.

• If you hide document tabs and you want to open and switch between multiple objects, you can do so by using the Navigation Pane.

  –or–

  On the Home tab, in the Window group, click Switch Windows. You can also click the arrow at the bottom of the Switch Windows button and select a display option, such as Tile Vertically or Cascade.

• For information about using the Navigation Pane, see the article Guide to the Navigation Pane.

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