How to Open a Table in Design View in Microsoft Access

While Datasheet view lets you work directly with the data in tables, Design view takes you behind the scenes to work with the table structure. In Design view you have much finer control over how the fields in your data are defined and validated. You can open a closed table in Design view with just a few clicks.

This feature works the same in all modern versions of Microsoft Access: 2010, 2013, and 2016.

1. Locate the table in the Navigation Pane and right-click on it.
2. From the shortcut menu, select Design View. The table object opens as a tab on the work surface.

If a table is already open in Datasheet view, you can switch to Design view by clicking the View icon in the toolbar.