Use and modify the Books database template
The Books database template lets you create a database to track books that you have read, your reviews of those books, and books that you want to buy. The database connects to the Amazon.com Web site to obtain information about books. In addition, it lets you buy books through Amazon.com and also lets you summarize your book list and reading trends.
For each book that you buy by using the Books database, Amazon.com donates up to 10% of the proceeds to Unitus, to benefit the lives of third-world entrepreneurs through microfinance.
What do you want to do?
Add a book to your book list
The first step in building your book list is to add books.
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On the My Books form, click New Book.
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On the Book Details form, search for the book by doing one of the following:
Search for a book by title
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In the Title box, type as much of the title as you know, and then press ENTER.
The Books database displays a drop-down list that contains the ten best matches on Amazon.com for the words that you entered.
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If the book that you want appears in the list, click its title. The Books database adds the book to your list and displays its details from Amazon.com.
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If the book you want does not appear in the list, revise your search terms, and then press ENTER.
Search for a book by ISBN
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In the ISBN box, type the ISBN of the book, and then press ENTER.
You must type the complete ISBN, for example, 0884271781.
If the search is successful, the Books database adds that book to your list and displays its details from Amazon.com.
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Edit the details of the book, as appropriate, including condition, format, and acquired date.
To add a review of the book, click the My Review tab, and then type in the fields provided. For more information about writing a review, see the section Write a review of a book.
View and print book information
The My Books form displays your book list as a list. For each book, the list displays the title, author, condition, status, and your rating. For each book, you can do the following:
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Print a detail report Click Print Details, right-click the detail report that appears, and then click Print.
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View book details To open the Book Details form, click the title of the book.
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Read reviews from Amazon.com To read the latest reviews that were submitted to Amazon.com, click Read the latest reviews.
Delete a book
This procedure deletes all the information about the book, including your review and rating. In addition, the book will no longer appear in the Library Summary report.
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On the My Books form, click the title of the book that you want to delete.
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On the Book Details form, click Delete Book.
Access deletes the book from your book list.
Change the status of a book
The Books database lets you assign a current status to each book. By default, when you first add a book to your book list, the status is set to "Purchased".
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On the My Books form, click the title of the book that you want to change.
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In the Status list on the Book Details form, select the appropriate status.
Table of Status options
Status
Description
Wish List
I do not own this book, but I would like to.
This status setting does not affect any Wish Lists that you have on the Amazon.com Web site.
Purchased
I own this book.
On Loan
I have loaned this book to someone.
Sold
I sold this book, but I still want to keep it in my book list.
Lost
I lost this book, but I still want to keep it in my book list.
Record who a book is loaned to
If you set the status of a book to On Loan, an additional list, called Loaned To, appears. You can specify who you have loaned the book to by selecting their name from the list. Use the following procedure to modify the list of names in the Loaned To list:
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Click Edit List Items
next to the Loaned To list. -
In the Edit List Items dialog box, type each name on a separate line.
When you close the Book Details form after editing the list of names, Access asks you if you want to save changes to the design of the form. Make sure to click Yes so that your list of names is saved.
Rate a book
The Books database lets you rate each book in your book list on a scale of 1 to 5 stars. You can rate a book on the My Books form, or on the My Review tab in the Book Details form (available by clicking a book's title on the My Books form).
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Click the star that corresponds to the rating that you want to give to the book.
The rating that you set in the Books database does not affect any book ratings that you have submitted to the Amazon.com Web site.
Write a review of a book
To help you remember what you thought about a book, you can write a review for each book in your book list.
The reviews that you write in the Books database are stored on your computer, and are not submitted to Amazon.com. To write a review that will appear on the Amazon.com Web site, you must enter the review on that site.
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On the My Books form, click the title of the book that you want to review.
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On the Book Details form, click the My Review tab.
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In the Summary box, type a short summary of the review.
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In the I read this book on box, type the date that you read the book.
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In the text box below the Summary box, type your review.
To view all your reviews on one page, on the My Books form, click My Reviews.
View Amazon reviews of a book
You can use the Books database to read reviews that other readers have submitted to Amazon.com. Use one of the following procedures, depending on which form is currently displayed:
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If the My Books form is currently displayed, click Read the latest reviews under the title of the book for which you want to read reviews.
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If the Book Details form is currently displayed, click the Amazon Reviews tab.
To view the reviews on a larger page, click Read Full Reviews.
View your library summary
The Library Summary report lets you view information about your books and reading trends, including which books you have read recently, how many pages you have read each month, how many books of each genre you own, and which books you want to buy.
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On the My Books form, click Library Summary.
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To print the report, press CTRL+P.
Customize the Books database
You can use the Books database as it is, or if you want, you can modify it to better suit your needs. You can add new objects such as tables, forms or reports, or customize existing objects to add new functionality.
Many of the Access features that you must have in order to customize the Books database are hidden by the startup option settings of the database. In order to gain access to these features, you must close the database, and then reopen it while bypassing the startup options.
To bypass startup options, do the following:
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Hold down the SHIFT key while opening your database.
Depending on the macro security settings for your database, you might see one or more security messages on startup. Hold down the SHIFT key until you close the security messages, or the startup options will not be bypassed.
You use the Navigation Pane to organize and open the database objects. If the Navigation Pane is not displayed when you open the database, press F11 to display it.
Find links to more information about how to modify a database in the See Also section.
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