Will Access 2003 read files done in Access 2000

G

Graeme Stickings

At work we are going from Access 97 and Access 2000 to Access 2003 and we
have been told that once this is done we will not be able to open any of our
databases as Access 2003 is not backwards compatible. We have quite a lot of
databases we actively use, is the correct?

If so all our databases would have to be rebuilt from scratch if they can
not be converted to Access 2003
 
D

Douglas J Steele

The default file format for Access 2003 is actually the Access 2000 format.
Unless you're using features that are only available in Access 2003, there
should be no problems working with your databases in both Access 2000 and
Access 2003.

Unfortunately, the same isn't true with your Access 97 databases. If you're
going to have people continuing to use Access 97 for some time, you should
split all of the Access 97 databases into a front-end containing the
queries, forms, reports, macros and modules and a back-end containing the
tables. The back-end should be left in Access 97. A copy of the front-end
should be opened in Access 2003 and converted for those people using Access
2003 (or 2000). Any changes to the front-end should be made in Access 97 and
then the copy reconverted.
 
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