Query criteria help you zero in on specific items in an Access database. If an item matches all the criteria you enter, it appears in the query results.
To add criteria to an Access query, open the query in Design view and identify the fields (columns) you want to specify criteria for. If the field is not in the design grid, double-click the field to add it to the design grid and then enter the criterion in the Criteria row for that field. If you’re not sure how to make this happen, see Introduction to queries.
A query criterion is an expression that Access compares to query field values to determine whether to include the record that contains each value. For example, = "Chicago" is an expression that Access can compare to values in a text field in a query. If the value for that field in a given record is "Chicago", Access includes the record in the query results.
Here are some examples of commonly used criteria you can use as a starting point to create your criteria. The examples are grouped by data types.
A criterion is similar to a formula — it is a string that may consist of field references, operators, and constants. Query criteria are also referred to as expressions in Access.