Export/Import .dat file extension

[Kris]

I have a large number of databases which are set up to read in and export
text data to files with extensions other than the defaults (.dat, .work,
etc...). In Access 2003 I was able to modify the registry to allow for these
extensions. However, I have now upgraded to Access 2007 and cannot seem to
import or export these file extensions. I made the same registry changes as I
did with Access 2003 but they had no effect. I still get an error message
"Cannot update. Database or object is read-only." which is the same message I
got in 2003 before the registry edits.

Surely there is a way to get Access 2007 to import/export with these file
extensions rather than change every database, macro, and module across my
organization?

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide.

 

[Kris]

A follow up - got it working.

The registry entries that need to be changed are different from Access 2003.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Access Connectivity
Engine\Engines\Text is the correct location. Add your text file extensions to
the end of the values currently in "DisabledExtensions", separated by a comma.

I don't know why this was so hard to find. Hopefully someone else can use
this and it will save them the time of programatically changing the file name
for every text transfer.

 

[Ray Bryant]

Thank you for posting your solution. I'm just now updating an old Access system (originally 97 -> XP -> 2003) to Office 2007 and knew this would be an issue. As expected I got this error, searched DisabledExtensions in this forum and found the "new" answer.