I was into ACCESS heavily 8-10 years ago, then away from it, now back into it. I seem to recall there was a way to search for a record (like by a last name) by starting to type in the name, wherein the field would display the beginning letters of names from the table and allow you to select before the whole name was typed. I think there was a name for this, but I can't seem to remember it. I hope this triggers something. Sorry for lack of more specific verbiage.
PhilH