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Using a Switchboard

It's simple... in concept!

Click a command button to perform an action like opening a form or report or another switchboard page.

In the illustration above the first switchboard page has buttons to open two other pages and one to exit the application, that is, the current database. A secondary page replaces the main switchboard page in the window so you need to include a button to Return to the main switchboard.

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Switchboard at Startup

Switchboard forms are usually intended to open automatically when the database opens. In many databases, the ordinary user cannot see the Navigation Pane at all. All they see is what is on the switchboard and what it can open.

You must tell Access that you want the switchboard to open when the database opens. The setting is in Access Options.

Access 2007: Office button > Access Options button

Access 2010, 2013, 2016: File tab > Options

Select the Current Database page at the left. In the Application Options section, set the Display Form box to the form you want to show when the database opens.

Notice that if you like overlapping windows instead of the newer tabbed documents, you can change that behavior here.

By the way, if you open a database in the old MDB format, it will use overlapping windows by default. That was the only choice in the older versions of Access.

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Switchboard Manager

Access provides a special tool, Switchboard Manager, for creating and managing a switchboard form, which can have several switchboard pages. This is similar to the way the tab control for forms works. The object has several pages but only one page shows at a time. The example above has 3 pages - Main Switchboard, Forms Switchboard, and Reports Switchboard.

A database can have only ONE switchboard created with Switchboard Manager.

Opening the Switchboard Manager:

Access 2007, 2013: Database Tools ribbon tab

Access 2010, 2016: Not on any of the ribbon tabs by default.

Add to Quick Access Toolbar :
Click down arrow at right of Quick Access Toolbar. Change list of commands from Popular Commands to Commands Not in the Ribbon. Scroll to Switchboard Manager and click it to select it. Click Add>> button to move the command to the right. Use the up and down arrows at the right to position the command among the existing commands. Click OK.

Add to custom tab group or custom ribbon tab
File > Options. Change list of commands from Popular Commands to Commands Not in the Ribbon. Scroll to Switchboard Manager and click it to select it. Select a ribbon tab on the right and click the Add Group button at the bottom right. Right click the "New Group (Custom)" name and select Rename. Type a name that you like. Now click the Add>> button to move Switchboard Manager to the right to your new tab group. Click OK to save changes and close the dialog. Clearly Microsoft does not think you will be using this feature in Access 2010 or 2016!!

Using Switchboard Manager

The first window in the Switchboard Manager shows a list of existing switchboard pages and has several buttons for actions you can perform on these pages.

• New: Opens a window for creating a new switchboard page.
• Edit: Opens a window for making changes to the selected switchboard page
• Delete: Deletes the selected switchboard page.
  This does not remove buttons on other pages that open the switchboard that you are deleting. You must delete those separately.
• Make Default: Picks which page shows when you open the Switchboard form.
  

If you create several switchboard pages, you need to create an item on the main switchboard page for each of them. You cannot open the other switchboards any other way! All switchboard pages are part of a single object, which just looks like separate forms. Access is being tricky but helpful here!

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Create a New Switchboard Page

When you click the New button on the Switchboard Manager, a dialog appears for you to enter a name for the new switchboard page. The default name, New Switchboard Page, is uninspiring!

The new page appears in the list in the Switchboard Manager. You are not automatically sent to edit the blank switchboard page that you just created! You must select the page and click on Edit so that you can add items to the new page.

You must also go to the default switchboard and create a button to open your new switchboard page. Surprisingly, this is not done automatically for you.
 

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Add/Edit Items on a Switchboard Page

When you select a switchboard page in the Switchboard Manager and click the Edit button, the Edit Switchboard Page window opens. This lists each of the items that are on the switchboard you are editing. (It will be blank if you just created the switchboard.)

Use the buttons to create new items, edit the existing ones, delete items, and rearrange the order of items (with the Move Up and Move Down buttons).

The Edit and New buttons open a different kind of window, Edit Switchboard Item.  There are three text boxes in this dialog.

Text: What you want to see beside the button in the switchboard window. Be descriptive but short.
 

Command: What should happen when the item is clicked.

There is a drop list of actions - Go to Switchboard, Open Form in Add Mode (for new records), Open Form in Edit Mode (to change existing records), Open Report, Exit Application, etc. If you can write a macro or code segment, you can do more than just open an existing form or report. You are limited only by your imagination and your coding skills!

Open Form in Add Mode opens the form directly to a blank form, ready for you to create a new record.

The third text box provides the arguments for the command that you chose. What shows here depends on what you selected as the command, of course. For example, if you choose Go to Switchboard, the third box is a drop list of the switchboards in the database.
If you choose Open Form in Add Mode or Open Form in Edit Mode, then the third text box shows a list of forms in the database.
 

If you choose Exit Application, there is no third box at all. That command does not require any additional information. In action, this button will close the database but does NOT close Access itself.

Changes don't show after closing Switchboard Manager:
Cause: The Switchboard form was open while you made changes.
Solution: Close and reopen the form or else switch to Form Design View and back to Form View to refresh the window.

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Table for Switchboard

When you create a switchboard form, Access automatically creates a new table object called Switchboard Items. This lists all of the pages of the Switchboard AND all of the items on those pages.

Do not edit this table directly or delete it or rename it. You will break your switchboard. Use the Switchboard Manager to make any changes.

• SwitchboardID: Identifies which switchboard page the item is on.
• ItemNumber: Sets the order of items on the page, where 0 is the page itself.
• ItemText: What shows in the title bar of a page or beside the action button on the page.
• Command: A code for the action that you selected in the Command text box.
• Argument: A code or name of the object that you selected in the third text box of the Edit Switchboard Item dialog. Value is blank if there is no argument required.
  

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Switchboard Design View

Parts must be edited with the Switchboard Manager instead of Design View.

Design View shows just one button and label, like a normal Detail section should do, plus a Form Header and Footer. You cannot edit the text in the Form Header in Design View.

Older Versions: Before Access 2007, the Design View shows a table of eight buttons and labels but you might not have that many on the form. The title text box is in the Detail section instead of a Form Header.

You can change the properties for the Detail section and the text above the section with the buttons. You can add other text boxes or shapes or pictures as you wish. Just be aware that they will show in all switchboard pages for this switchboard. You can change colors and fonts, add pictures.

You cannot put the buttons into two columns since each one is really a Detail section of its own. Only reports can be formatted in two columns.

Editing Design View of a Switchboard created in an older Access version
Be VERY careful! Things can vanish when you get too 'creative' with your design changes.

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Access 2010, 2013: Navigation Form

New with Access 2010, the wizard that creates a Navigation Form includes several layout choices that are similar to web page menus. That makes sense because this form is intended primarily for databases that are used through a web interface. The normal Navigation Pane does not show in that situation.

When you click a menu item, the form or report opens in the subform area of the switchboard form. That is great for forms or for viewing reports but not so good for printing.

Printing from Navigation Form: Like with any other form, only what shows prints, even if the object has scrollbars for parts that are out of sight. There are some work-arounds. One is to add a command button to your report and set its Display When property to Screen Only. Design the button so that clicking it opens the report and prints it.

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Custom Navigation Form

Of course you can always create your own custom navigation form. It will require uses some macros or VBA code to perform the action you want, like opening a form or report. These lessons don't go that far.

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