Will Access 2019 Run an Acess 2000 mdb?

[Neuro-VISION]

I use Office 2010, which I've had to re-install after a reformat. Unfortunately I guess Microsoft doesn't support Office 2010 anymore, so none of the bugs in my copy have been updated, and therefore Outlook and the other apps keep freezing with no readily apparent way to resolve this issue.

I'm considering upgrading to Office 2019 Pro, but . . .

I've written a number of VERY COMPLEX Access 2000 split databases over the years. When I say complex, I mean mega thousands of lines of Access VBA code. When I tried to convert one of my databases to accdb format, it left me with hundreds of errors in my code. Therefore, converting my databases is not something that I can consider.

Now for the $64 question: Will Access 2019 reliably run an Access 2000 mdb? I've searched the web and can't seem to find a decisive answer to this question. If it will run an old mdb, Is there anything else I should know before spending the money to buy Office 2019?

[#2]

@Neuro-VISION 

Somewhat surprisingly, it sounds like it might be possible.

That page says, in part,

The .mdb file formats

Before the .accdb file format was introduced in Access 2007, Access file formats used the .mdb file extension. There are multiple different versions of the .mdb file format.

You can still open some .mdb files. If the file is stored in the Access 2002-2003 or Access 2000 file format, you can open it and use it normally. However, you cannot take advantage of features that require the .accdb file format.

[#3]

Thank you so much George. I have no need for any advanced features or replication, so running my databases under Office 2019 Pro looks like an easy out of my Office 2010 freezing problems.

[#4 · Accepted solution]

My lack of naivete prevents me from saying flat out "it'll work", but that page is reassuring nonetheless. Having been around long enough, I will believe it completely when you report success.

[#5]

@Neuro-VISION

It OUGHT to be OK :~>

All versions of Access can still open files created in Access 2000 or later.

In fact, they can also still save files in Access 2000 or 2002/2203 format.

However, I would still recommend converting your files to ACCDB format as the newer file format is more secure. 

Access 2019 and 2010 share the same file format so upgrading shouldn't cause any new issues in theory.

Of course, there are caveats e.g. where features that were in the earlier version have since been deprecated e.g. user level security dropped with ACCDB format, pivot tables deprecated in 2013 etc.

Also newer versions of Access are less tolerant of 'sloppy' coding. Things that compiled in A2000 may no longer do so in some cases

Good luck

[#6]

Thanks for your reply and advice. But as I stated in my original post, I already tried converting to an accdb, and got hundreds of problems in my VBA code. Man others have posted that this is par for the course. I have no intention of spending a couple of hundred hours fixing bugs created by conversion. This is only one of the complex databases that I've developed over the years and still use, and it has many thousands of lines of VBA.

[#7]

@Neuro-VISION 

It is true that later versions of Access are far less tolerant of ambiguities in code, and that, moreover, there are often improved ways to accomplish things. 

For example, at one time a statement like this was quite acceptable in Access VBA.

Public Function DoThis()

    Dim db as Database

    ---do something with db

End Function

In more recent versions, one would probably need to qualify that more carefully and explicitly.

Public Function DoThis()

    Dim db as DAO.Database

    ---do something with db

End Function

The same is true of a number of other coding practices. Greater explicitness is more likely to compile and run cleanly.

In the end, though, as long as the existing solution meets your needs, that's what matters.

[#8]

Thanks for that advice! I've been coding since Access 97 was popular, and I'm usually very explicit in my code. But there is always the possibility that I've been sloppy here or there, and this is good advice.

I'm going to buy Office 2019 and see how it goes. So I may be back for more advice.

[#9]

Well, I bought 32 bit Office 2019 and the A2000 MDB format seems to work okay! All of mine decompiled the first time I ran them, but that is no big deal. I haven't run them much yet, so I can't swear that everything works, but it looks good.

I also took the time to figure out why my MDB's weren't converting well to accdb's. Access 2019 actually does the conversion quite well. What it doesn't do well is to retain the references to the dlls, ocx's - library files. So refer back to the unconverted MDB so that you can see where each one is stored on your harddrive, and reset them after you've converted to accdb!

One last note: If you've written your db to run under 32 bit Access, unless you really want to do a lot of recoding, stay away from Office / Access 2021. It appears that it is only available for 64 bit, and you will NOT be happy when you try to run your 32 bit code AT ALL! I am speaking from experience.

I bought Office 2021 and luckily the vendor allowed me remove it and gave me a license for the 32 bit version of Office 2019.

SPOILER ALERT: Apparently there is a 32 bit version of Office 2021, but for some reason the vendor I purchased from did not offer that download.

[#10]

@Neuro-VISION 
First, congratulations on the progress.

Apparently the first time you purchased the 64 bit version of Access for 2019. That is now more or less the default, but you CAN still obtain and use the 32 bit version, as you learned. I don't know which vendor you purchased from, but it seems they'd be aware of the situation and offer you a choice at purchase, although they did step up later.

For a long time, 32 bit was still being offered as the default although 64 bit Access has been available for quite a well. Today, 64 bit Office is the default. Unfortunately, one has to be aware of the issue in order to make an informed choice at the time of initial installation. 

All of that said, it is possible to convert your 32 bit Access accdbs to run properly under 64 bit Access. There are a lot of resources to help you with that in your VBA. In particular, I'm aware of at least 3 or 4 very good YouTube videos. Look for them under 32 bit vs 64 bit or similar terms. Colin Riddington (isladogs), who posted above, has at least one, for example.

However, many third-party OCX's and DLL's do not offer 64 bit versions of their tools, so it's not always possible to simply replace them. In some cases, you'll simply have to find another alternative that will run under 64 bit Access.

I guess in summary I'd say for the time being it's appropriate to stick with 32 bit Office but you should probably plan for shifting to 64 bit at some point.

[#11]

Thanks George!