Non-programmer here.
I manage a split Access 2013 database. The back-end file and a front-end file live on a shared drive. (Users call these files "master files.") Users have their front-end files in folders in their home drives. (Users call these "local copies.") Users can see the tables that the back-end holds, by selecting "tables" in the navigation pane, but can open them only in "read-only" mode. The shared drive and home drives are backed up nightly.
As the db manager, I'm the only person who works in the back-end file, and also the only person who opens the front-end file on the shared drive.
Because it fits the nature of the users' work, we have one set of front-end and back-end files for each calendar year. Currently users are working in the "2016 database" and the "2017 database." This structure has worked without a hitch for about 12 years now.
About a month ago, I discovered some anomalies in the database function.
- When trying to open those tables from the "local copy" (front-end file), the database does not give the warning that the tables are "read-only."
- I can in fact open the tables via the navigation pane in the front end, and have full "write" privileges.
- I deleted three queries from the "2016 database" and discovered they had been deleted from the "2017 database" as well. The front-end and back-end for both "2016" and "2017" were linked appropriately.
I have talked with my networking group to see if perhaps any system-wide updates were made that might have caused this unexpected behavior. The investigated, and found that not to be the case. I hid the tables in the user's "local copies" as it seemed to be the only security measure that I - a non-programmer - could take.
I'm stumped and so are my network folks. Any ideas?
Thanks,
Lyn