What distinguishes a 'relationship' from a 'join' in Access?

A relationship in Access is fundamentally about defining how two tables are interconnected, focusing on the logical association between them. This association is established through keys, specifically primary and foreign keys, which outline how data in one table corresponds to data in another. This creates a structured way to maintain referential integrity and ensure consistent data across the database.

On the other hand, a join serves a different purpose — it is a method for combining records from two or more tables based on the related columns between them. Joins aggregate data from multiple sources, allowing users to create queries that pull relevant information from interconnected tables for reporting or analysis.

Understanding this distinction is critical for effective database design and querying. A relationship serves the foundational architecture of the database, while a join is a practical mechanism to query and retrieve data based on those established relationships.