Organize Controls into a Group in an Access 2000 Form or Report 

  You can also view an animated version of this procedure, Animation: Organize Controls into a Group in an Access 2000 Form or Report.

In Design view of a Microsoft Access 2000 form or report, you can organize related controls into a group. Controls are graphical objects, such as text boxes, check boxes, or command buttons, that you place on a form or report in Design view.

After you organize controls into a group, that group is easy to select, and it is a permanent part of the form. When you select the group, you can move or format all of the controls in the group at the same time.

In previous versions of Access, you could select multiple controls and format or move them at the same time - but only as long as you hadn't yet clicked another control.

In Access 2000, you can still select multiple controls and format or move them at the same time. However, you can also group the controls. When you group controls, the group is a permanent part of the form or report until you delete it by ungrouping the controls. You do not have to select each of the related controls every time you want to move or format them at the same time — the rectangle that designates the group is always available.

To group two or more controls

1. While in Design view of a form or report, do one of the following:
   To select adjacent controls, start at any point outside a control and drag a rectangle over the controls that you want to group.
   To select nonadjacent controls, hold down the SHIFT key and click the controls that you want to group.
2. On the Format menu, click Group.
   A rectangle appears around the group.

To select a group

• Click one of the controls in the group so that the sizing handles (the small squares displayed on the edges of the selected item) appear only on the rectangle around the group, not on any of the controls in the group.
  If your group consists of nonadjacent controls, the rectangle around the group might contain a control that doesn't belong to that group. However, when you select the group and make changes, those changes are applied only to the controls that belong to the group.
  

To select only a control in the group

1. Select the group that contains the control by clicking that control.
   The sizing handles appear only on the rectangle around the group.
2. Click the control again so that the sizing handles appear on that control as well.

To ungroup controls

1. Click any control in the group.
2. On the Format menu, click Ungroup.