Upgrading to Access 2000

Enabling a Previous-version Access Database in Access 2000

You can enable a Microsoft Access database in a multiuser environment in which all users do not upgrade to Access 2000 at the same time. In this situation, a database must be used simultaneously with different versions of Access, and Access 2000 users can enable a database in a previous-version format.

When an Access 2000 user enables a database, Access maintains the original format so that a user of a previous version of Microsoft Access can continue to use the database. For example, if a shared database is created in Access version 2.0, you can use this database with Access 2.0, and you can enable it in Access 2000.

Access enables the previous-version database in Access 2000 without making any permanent changes to the previous-version database. An enabled database can still be opened with its original version of Access.

To enable a previous-version Access database in Access 2000

1. On the File menu, click Open.
2. Click the previous-version Access database that you want to enable, and then click Open.
3. In the Convert/Open Database dialog box, click Open Database.

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Modifying the design of objects

You can enable an Access 2.0 database, an Access 95 database, or an Access 97 database so that you can use them in Access 2000. When you use Access 2000 to enable a previous-version Access database, you can view database objects, and you can add, delete, or modify records. However, you cannot modify the design of objects.

To modify the design of existing objects or to add new objects, you must open the database with the version of Access used to create it. You cannot open an Access 2000 database with a previous version of Access.

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Linking or importing tables

In a previous-version Access database, you cannot link or import an Access 2000 table. However, you can export an Access 2000 table to a previous-version Access database. You can also cut, copy, and paste data from an Access 2000 table to a table in a previous version of Access.

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Converting toolbars and menu bars

Access 97 or later supports a new style of toolbars and menu bars. When you enable an Access 95 database in Access 2000, custom toolbars are converted to the new style, but the conversion is not saved. Custom menu bars are interpreted as the new style of menu bar, but the menu bar macros are not converted and continue to be supported.

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Managing the size of an enabled database

Your Access database might increase in size when you enable it. If you have a database that has already been enabled in a previous version of Access, and if you enable it in Access 2000, the size of the Microsoft Visual Basic project increases even more.

In rare cases, you might have to enable an Access 2.0 database in Access 95, enable it again in Access 97, and then enable it in Access 2000. In this case, the Visual Basic project must store information in the format of each version.

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See also

Before you enable an Access database, you must update code that uses objects, methods, or properties that depend on the DAO 2.5/3.x compatibility library. Code that depends on this library causes compilation errors. For more information, see How to Convert a Previous-version Database to Access 2000.

Instead of enabling, you can share front-end/back-end applications between Access 2.0, Access 95, Access 97, and Access 2000, provided that the back-end database is maintained in the oldest version of Access. For more information, see Using an Access Database with Multiple Versions.

For information about enabling a secured Access database, see How to Convert a Previous-version Database to Access 2000.