Access 2000 is just fine. It has almost all the features of any later version, upgrading is almost pointless from 2000 to anything else. The big improvements past 2000 are mostly around reporting. Now, if you had '97 that would suck, but could also be worked around.
Anyway, what EagleKeeper is saying is getting data into access is only the starting point. It sounds like you are entirely new to Access, or any database at all really. Access does not require programming language at all unless you start wanting to do some of the more interesting things. This is as basic as I can make it wouthout having to type a access book, which you can get at a bookstore, or by reading the help built into access. These comments below are based upon your really short description, and could be more or less required.
First, get the data into access. You will need client data. I see tables as:
name, address, contact info (can concievably be all one table). there needs to be some kind of ID in this table, either an autonumber or the clien'ts name thatw ill be unique so you can find it later
state and county table for lookup. Can be a match between county and zip code using TIGER line data from the government which would allow linking a client's zip to the correct county. (fields: state, zip code, county FIPS code, county name)
a table for each legal form. Include the client's ID from above.
Once the data nad tables are set up, you need to create a form for each table. These are the ones I see:
client lookup (find aclient, and all related forms.)
add client (form to add a new record to the client table)
one form for each legal form table created above. This should require client ID, or be a linked subform sot hat the form is attached to a client.
From there you have a few options for how to get data out of the database. You can either:
Integrate with Word so that the data is puleld from the database into a word document for printing. (hardest, but looks the best and most professional. Requires programming using VBA to do it correctly)
design a report to print the forms for a client (middle difficulty, looks slightly better than printing the form itself)
print the access form itself (easy, don't look good)
Originally posted by: EagleKeeper
Stop by a computer store and pick up Access For Dummies to get you started.
What you want can be done by a noob; however, you will have to have some patience and a lot of trial and error in getting things to work the way you desire.
The first is to document step-by-step exactly how you would handle each task if you had a spreadsheet and a filing cabinet of information.
Listen to EagleKeeper. figuring out requirements should be 3/4 the time, designing it should be 1/4 or less. If you don't spend the time doing the requirements you will end up having to redo large portions of the database or, in the worst case, have to start over.
