MS-Access / Getting Started

Looking at Supported File Formats

Microsoft Access enables you to import and link to files in these formats:

  • Microsoft Access databases (including versions earlier than Access 2010)
  • ODBC databases
  • HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) documents with <table> tags
  • XML (eXtensible Markup Language) documents (import and open only)
  • Microsoft Exchange and Outlook
  • dBASE III, dBASE IV, and dBASE 5.0
  • Paradox 3.x, 4.x, and 5.x
  • Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and 8.0
  • Lotus WKS, WK1, WK3, and WK4 spreadsheets (import and open only)
  • ASCII text files stored in a tabular format

Exporting to Another Access Database

You can easily export Access tables and queries to another Access database. The following is the required process:

  1. Right-click the object you want to export and select Export from the context menu. (Alternatively, you can select Access from the Export group on the External Data tab of the Ribbon.) The menu appears.
  2. Select Access. The Export - Access Database dialog appears.
  3. Select the Access database to which you want to export the object and then click OK. The Export dialog box appears.
  4. In the Export dialog box, select Definition and Data or Definition Only, depending on whether you want to export just the structure or the structure and the data. Click OK.

When you export an object to another database, Access exports a copy of the object. When you choose Definition Only, Access copies just the object's structure (no data) to the receiving database.

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