Upgrading to Access 2000

Strategies for Upgrading to Access 2000

If all the users in your organization are upgrading to Microsoft Access 2000 at the same time, you probably want to convert previous-version databases to Access 2000. You cannot open an Access 2000 database in a previous version of Access, but you can convert an Access 2000 database to Access 97.

If your organization is upgrading gradually to Access 2000, users of different versions of Access might need to share information. In this scenario, you can enable previous-version Access databases, or you can upgrade only parts of them. You can use the enabled Access database in Access 2000, but you must make any changes to the design of the database in the previous version of Access.

If users are upgrading gradually to Access 2000, but you want to make design changes in Access 2000, you can split an Access database into a front-end/back-end application. The back-end database contains the data, and it remains in the earliest version of Access that you are using. The front-end database is linked to the tables in the back-end database. To take advantage of new features, you can convert the front-end database to Access 2000.