Forum Discussion
How to convert Access 32 Bit Database to Access 64 Bit Database
First, let me make clear what I'm saying. Usually an ACCDE is created to protect the design of forms, reports, and VBA codein a database application. The ACCDE may or may not contain the actual data tables -- often, it contains only links to the tables in another database (generally referred to as the "back-end", whereas the ACCDE is the "front-end").
If she has only 64-bit Access and the ACCDE was built with 32-bit Access, then she won't be able to open and run the ACCDE as an *application* -- she won't be able to run the forms and reports, and won't be able to execute any code it contains.
All I'm talking about is a way to get to the tables (if any) and queries in the ACCDE.
To do that, she would open her copy of Access without selecting an existing database. She would then tell it to create a new, blank database (not a web database). She'd have to provide a name and folder path for that database, and then click the "Create" button. Access will create the database and open it, and will probably open an intial sample table, "Table1". She should just close that table.
She should then go to the "External Data" tab on the ribbon, and from the "Import & Link" tab group she should click "Access". She'll tehn be shown a dialog prompting her to specify the source of the data. She should enter or browse to & select the ACCDE that she's interested in. She should also choose the option, "Link to the data source by creating a linked table". The she should click the OK button.
She'll then be shown a Link Tables dialog where she can select the tables to be linked. It will only show the tables that actually reside in the database she's linking to -- if the ACCDE has linked tables to a back-end somewhere, those tables won't appear. She should then select the tables she wants to link, click the OK button, and Access will take it from there.
If it turns out that the ACCDE has only linked its tables, then she can import the table links instead of linking tables. She'd follow basically the the same process but instead of choosing the "Link ..." option, she'll choose "Import ..." instead. That will copy the table *links* from the ACCDE into her working database.
If the ACCDE contains stored queries that she wants to use, she can import them. To do that, she would use a similar procedure, except that she woluld choose the "Import" option, go to the Queries tab of the Import dialog, and select the queries she wants.
mustafiz salam sajib Can you build a database that works for both 32 and 64 bits?
- George_HepworthOct 18, 2021Silver Contributor
Yes, with conditional compilation it is possible. Additional reference. EXCELLENT VIDEO on 64 bit VBA. However, if your Access relational database application uses 32 bit activeX or third-party controls you can't run them under 64 bit Office. So, it does indeed depend on the specifics of the Access relational database application in question. Some will be compatible, some won't.
- Sven JohannsenOct 18, 2021Brass ContributorDepends. If you are going to just run the . mdb/accdb, yes, doesn’t matter. If you are planning to compile into an executable, no. The compiled version will look for compatible Office Libraries and they need to match. Same thing for additional Office programs. If you installed 32 bit Office, you can’t install 64 bit Visio. If you have the DB on a shared drive, you can open it in either 32or 64 bit Access. This is a pretty old thread though, so the prevalence of 32 and 64 bit Office installations may be different now.
- Eric1890Oct 18, 2021Copper ContributorThanks