Difference Between Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access are two of the most widely used applications of Microsoft Office. The two programme applications are completely different from each other. Excel is used to keep records in spreadsheets made up of rows and columns. Furthermore, you can apply mathematical and statistical formulae to the data in excel in order to prepare particular reports. On the other hand, Microsoft Access is an application which is used to create a database. It is a database management system (DBMS) and is used to make, query, update and administer different databases.

Instructions

  • 1

    Microsoft Excel

    It is one of the most popular software applications which is compatible with Windows as well as Mac OS X. Its main features include calculations (mathematical, statistical and financial), graphic tools and pivot tables. Furthermore, it contains ‘Visual Basic for Application’ which is a macro computer programming language.

    It has all the essential features of spreadsheets. You can arrange your data in rows and columns according to your requirements. Besides, you can also convert rows into columns by going to the special pasting option. You can copy the data from your official software to excel in order to apply certain formulae to make reports. In addition, you can also make tables of your data so as to filter it according to your needs. You can prepare any kind of graphs and charts to interpret your data.

    This software is also used as a decision support system (DSS) through a customised interface. You can also integrate the data in the excel file with your Microsoft Word or PowerPoint document.

    - Image courtesy: ghacks.net

  • 2

    Microsoft Access

    It is a DBMS which integrates the graphical user interface and the software-development tools with the Microsoft Jet Database Engine. The data is stored in the access file but you can link it with any other database or application. It is mostly used by the software developers and the data architects who create different kinds of applications. In addition, it is well supported by the Visual Basic for Application which is an object-oriented computer programming language.

    It can also be used as a front-end for other applications like Oracle, Sybase and Microsoft SQL Server. Its tables can be used with some other applications which mainly include Visual Basic and ASP.NET. You can easily create your database with Access by creating entities, tables and queries.

    - Image courtesy: learnitanytime.com

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