Microsoft Access provides powerful database-management capabilities as part of the suite of Microsoft Office applications. You can use images within your Microsoft Access tables or use Access to manage a library of images. Microsoft uses the terms "bound" and "unbound" to differentiate how images appear in your database records and on your reports and forms.
Bound Images
- When you display a different image on each record of a Microsoft Access database or every page of a report you generate from it, you're working with bound images. This image option provides the ideal way to reference each item in a library of photographs, track employee identification portraits along with digital personnel records or store representations of any collection you can photograph, from real estate to household contents. Bound images help you differentiate among the records in a database.
Unbound Images
- Use an unbound image when you want to place the same photograph or graphic on every record of a Microsoft Access database or add the image throughout the pages of a report. Whether you need to apply a digital watermark to your pages, add a company logo or show a project-specific reference graphic throughout a report, unbound images provide the option you need. They're the wrong choice for an image catalog and ideal for stationery-like applications.
Applying Bound and Unbound Images
- Microsoft Access offers several object frames and image controls to add bound and unbound images to your work. Which tools you use depend on which type of image you want to add. A bound object frame works specifically to show the proper bound image for each page or record of your work. You can use the unbound object frame to add an unchanging image throughout your project, but you'll move through your work more quickly if you use an image control instead, especially if you need the freedom to choose among a longer list of graphic file types than the bound and unbound object frames support.
Linking vs. Embedding
- You can insert graphics directly into your Microsoft Access files as embedded objects, making certain these assets remain available regardless of where you store your original graphic files. The downside of this convenience comes in the form of larger Access file sizes and slower database run times. To speed your work and keep your data tables slim, use links to your original files instead. Microsoft OLE Object fields work with both linked and embedded objects, giving you the option to combine both methods or switch from one to the other.
