You don’t have to import an Excel database table into a new
Access table in order to work with it in an Access database. For example,
suppose you track student grades in an Excel database and you would like to
create an Access query that would list which students scored above 85% on all
three exams. Follow these steps:

  1. Open
    Access and create a new blank database.
  2. Go to
    File | Get External Data | Link Tables.
  3. Navigate
    to the Student Data File in your Excel folder.
  4. Select
    the Worksheet.
  5. Click Next twice.
  6. Click
    Finished.

A link to the Excel database will appear in the Access
database window under Tables. You can select the link and create a query as you
normally would. When you link to an Excel table, the original Excel table will
display all Access operations. You can create queries, forms, and reports, and
add or delete data to the Excel table—just as you could do if you had imported
it as an Access table. Later, you can use a Make Table query to create an
Access table from the Excel data, if you so desire.

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