Access XP

Organizing Our World

Now what if you needed to pull out those contacts that represent family members? Perhaps another family member might want this information. You would have to flip through all the pages of the address book and write down the exact same information onto another piece of paper, or perhaps even another address book. This is time-consuming. Contact records are duplicated. A change to one phone number means it has to be changed in two or more places: in the address book and anywhere else where you recorded the information.

Over time, your address book will become old and worn. The records in it will be crossed out and changed as people move from one place to another, or change their phone number. You need a new address book. And then you need to rewrite all that information again in a brand new book.

It's a lot of work.

What you need is a database.