Microsoft Query by Example (QBE) is a method of creating database queries using examples based on a text string, the name of a document

Document

The term document has multiple meanings in ordinary language and in scholarship. WordNet 3.1. lists four meanings :* document, written document, papers...

 or a list of documents. The QBE system converts the user input into a formal database query. This approach allows the user to perform powerful searches without the need of having to learn a more formalized query mechanism such as Structured Query Language

SQL

SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems ....

 (SQL). It is derived from Moshé M. Zloof's original Query by Example

Query by Example

Query by Example is a database query language for relational databases. It was devised by Moshé M. Zloof at IBM Research during the mid 1970s, in parallel to the development of SQL. It is the first graphical query language, using visual tables where the user would enter commands, example elements...

 (QBE) implemented in the mid-1970s at IBM

IBM

International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...

's Research Centre in Yorktown, New York

Yorktown, New York

Yorktown is a town in Westchester County, New York, in the suburbs of New York about north of midtown Manhattan. The town lies on the north border of Westchester County...

.
Microsoft Access

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Office Access, previously known as Microsoft Access, is a relational database management system from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of...

 is an example of Microsoft QBE. Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...

allows results of QBE queries to be embedded in spreadsheets.