Access's popular filtering capability lets database users select a subset of items for viewing. A classic filter was the old push-button telephone directory, where you pressed the m button to contact people whose last names began with M. You can easily reproduce this example, and modern user interface and database programming techniques can improve the process. For example, database developers using Access forms to reference a SQL Server database can list only the first letters of last names in their contact database, instead of all letters.

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