How to Create one to many

relationship in MS Access
 Creating the one-to-many relationship
• A Customer table which stores customer an and Order table which stores orders. The Customer table
already contains some data.
• The Order table is empty and contains a customer_id field. In order to create the one-to-many relationship
we are going to link the customer_id field in the Order table to the customer_id field in the Customer
table, so that every Order can be linked to a Customer. The customer_id field in the Order table is called
a foreign key.
Follow these steps to create the one-to-many relationship
• Create two tables. The many-table (Order in this example) must have a field that will become the foreign key.
This field must have the same data type as the primary key it will refer to (the primary key of Customer in this
example). You can choose any name for the field. The name of a foreign key field doesn't have to be the same
as the primary key field it refers to, but it is allowed.
• Select the Database Tools tab on the ribbon and then click the Relationships button. This will open the Access
relationships screen.
• Access will ask you which tables you want to show on the relationship screen. Select the two tables you want
to create the one-to-many relationship for and click Add. The tables will then appear on the relationship
screen.
• The easiest way to create the one-to-many relationship is to select the customer_id in the Customer
table with your mouse and while keeping the mouse button down, dragging the field over to the customer_id
field in the Order table and releasing it.
• Drag and drop the primary key of Customer to the (soon to be) foreign key in the Order table.
• When you release the mouse over the customer_id field in the Order table Access will show you the Edit
Relationships window.

• Access already filled out the most important information for you, based on you selection of the
customer_id fields. The customer_id field of the Customer table is on the left ("Table") and the
customer_id field of the Order table is on the right ("Related table"). This is what we want, because we
want the customer_id field in the Order table to relate to the customer_id field of the Customer table. If
you click Create right now you will have created a one-to-many relationship. Below you will find an
explanation of the Enforce Referential Integrity, Cascade Update Related Fields and Cascade Delete Related
Records options.
 Referential Integrity
• The Enforce Referential Integrity option
• If you select the Enforce Referential Integrity option Access will make sure that each record in the Order
table refers to an existing record in the Customer table. Selecting this option makes it impossible to create
Order records thar refer to an non-existent customer. You should select Enforce Referential Integrity by
default, because it protects the integrity of your data.
• The Cascade Update Related Fields option
• If you select the Cascade Update Related Fields option Access will change the foreign key if the primary key
it refers to changes. In case of our one-to-many example this means that if the primary key of a customer
(one) changes, Access will automatically update the foreign keys that refer to this customer in the Order
table (many). The Cascade Update Related Fields option also protects the integrity of your data as it
prevents records from becoming detached from their related records.
• The Cascade Delete Related Records option
• The Cascade Delete Related Records option ensures that whenever a Customer (one) record is deleted,
than the related records (many) in the Order table are also deleted. You should select this option if the
many-part of the relationship has no use or is not needed anymore without the one-part. In case of our
one-to-many example this would mean that when a customer is deleted als his/her orders are deleted
from the order table as well.
• The one-to-many relationship on the
Relationships screen. The 1 indicates the 1
side of the relationship and the infinity symbol
(∞) the many side.