Merging two tables in Access? - ms-access

Question

I have two tables that have different data that I need to merge. They do have similarities such as: Order number, Name, type or product. But they have separate data as well like: Order date, and Engravings.
Would I do two separate Append queries in Access into a merged table? Or one Append queries? Or just keep the data separate?
I am new to Access and trying to find the best way to approach this.

Answer 1

Merging the two tables into one completely defeats the purpose of using a database and you're better off using excel at that point. You want to split the data as much as possible along logical lines so that you can find, say... all the orders that Mr X has ever made for a specific product. And in that case you're going to want to have separate tables for customers, orders, engravings and the like.
The best practice from a design standpoint is to place fields that each table has in common into a third "master" table, then create relationships from that table to the existing tables and delete the data that has been transferred to the main table (except for the primary keys, which have to be common with your master table).
To create the master table, use a Make Table query to generate the master table based on one of your tables, then an append query to add any products in the master table that might not be common to both, based on the other table. Finally, delete queries for each table would rid you of redundant data in both original tables.
However, I strongly suggest you use Microsoft's tutorials and download the NorthWind sample database so you can get an idea of what a properly structured database looks like. The beginner's learning curve for access is very steep and having well built example databases is almost a requisite.
Make a backup of your database(s) and play with it until it turns out right. Do not make the mistake of playing with live data until you know what you're doing.

Answer 2

As you have similar fields on either table, take the Order number field from both tables using a union query. Something like:
SELECT tbl_Delivery_Details.OrderNo
FROM tbl_Delivery_Details
GROUP BY tbl_Delivery_Details.OrderNo
UNION
SELECT tbl_Delivery_Header.[Order number]
FROM tbl_Delivery_Header
GROUP BY tbl_Delivery_Header.[Order number];
This would take the order numbers from the delivery details table and from the delivery header table and merge them into one list with only one instance of each order number. Save the query.
You could then use this query in a new query. Bring in your 2 tables to this query and insert the fields from either table that you require.
As users add records to the tables they will be added to the union selet query when it is next run.
PB

Answer 3

It depends on what you want to do. Let's assume you have tables A (with 50 records) and B (with 75) records, and both tables have a similar column called OrderID.
Appending Rows:
If you want to create a table with 125 total records by combining records (rows) from A and records (rows) from B, run the following two queries:
Query 1:
SELECT A.ORDER_NUMBER, A.TEXT_FIELD1 as DATA INTO C
FROM A;
Query 2:
INSERT INTO C ( ORDER_NUMBER, DATA )
SELECT B.ORDER_NUMBER, B.TEXT_FIELD2
FROM B;
Appending Columns: If you want to create a table with 75 total records where you are appending columns from A to the columns in B, then run the following query:
SELECT B.ORDER_NUMBER, A.TEXT_FIELD1, B.TEXT_FIELD2 INTO C
FROM A RIGHT JOIN B ON A.ORDER_NUMBER = B.ORDER_NUMBER;
... in a similar way, you can append columns in B to columns in A in a new table C with a total of 50 records by running the following query:
SELECT A.ORDER_NUMBER, A.TEXT_FIELD1, B.TEXT_FIELD2 INTO C
FROM A LEFT JOIN B ON A.ORDER_NUMBER = B.ORDER_NUMBER;