Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated April 30, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003
In Excel, a database is most often referred to as a list. A list is nothing more than a data table that contains organized information. For instance, a list can contain information about your receivables, your coin collection, or the test results for students in your class.
Lists, or databases, are comprised of records (for instance, each row could be the record for one student) and fields (here, each column is the data from one category). Normally you place labels at the top of the list to indicate the field names, therefore each column represents a field. Each row in the list is a database record.
There are a few guidelines you might find helpful as you are developing lists. Remember that these guidelines only apply if you will be using the database-related functions built into Excel.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2084) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.
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