MS-Access / Getting Started

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Linking to Another Type of Database

Even if you're not ready to actually import data from a database management system (such as FoxPro), you still might want to make changes to it by using Access. You can link to other types of databases and to Excel spreadsheets.

Link to Excel Spreadsheets

Linking to Excel spreadsheets involves the following steps:

1. Open the database that will contain the link.
2. With Tables selected as the object type, right-click in the Navigation Pane and select Import and then Excel from the context menu. (Alternatively, you can select Excel from the Import & Link group on the External Data tab of the Ribbon.) The Get External Data - Excel Spreadsheet dialog appears.
3. Click Browse to locate the spreadsheet whose data you want to link to.
4. Designate that you want to Link to the data source by creating a linked table.
5. Click OK. The Link Spreadsheet Wizard appears.
6. Select Show Worksheets or Show Named Ranges, as appropriate, and then click Next.
7. Click to select First Row Contains Column Headings, if appropriate.
8. Click Next.
9. Type a name for the linked table.
10. Click Finish, and then click OK. An icon associated with the linked table appears.

Link to Other Databases

In addition to linking to Access tables and Excel spreadsheets, you might want to link to dBASE, FoxPro, Paradox, and other database files. Here are the required steps:

1. Open the database that will contain the links.
2. With Tables selected in the object list, right-click in the Navigation Pane and select Link Tables from the context menu. (Alternatively, you can select the appropriate data type [for example, dBASE] from the More dropdown in the Import & Link group on the External Data tab of the Ribbon.)
3. Click Browse and locate the file containing the data you want to link to.
4. Select Link to the data source by creating a linked table.
5. Click OK. The table appears in the Navigation Pane with the appropriate icon (for example, dBASE).

When working with linked tables in other databases, you need to remember a few important things, including the following:

• When you link a table to the source, there are some properties that you cannot change in the linked table. The descriptions of these properties appear in red while in Design view of the table.
• Any data you change in a linked table changes in the source table, too.