A portable standalone database needing only Access and Windows?

[Starter-4-10]

Hi, as my question shows, I'm ignorant. Around 1998, when screens and memory were small, I built a database. Now it's got 5,000 records, 40 fields, 7,000 images, 5 forms and subforms, messy VBA. Giving a copy to friends has usually failed. It didn't like moving to Access 2003 and Windows 10.

Now, it can be simplified. One form, filling a desktop monitor. The whole thing on a flash drive. And maybe, maybe ... with everything designed so that, as long as it's working with (say) Access later than 2002, and Windows later than (say) Vista, and all the possibly needed References etc bundled, the worst that can happen in a friend's computer is a problem-free conversion.

Is it possible? I've searched your forums - have I missed an answer? Online, it looks, at best, horribly complicated and unreliable. ​

I

[ranman256]

If you have a way to collect the external remote data.

[NTC]

7000 images inside a database? That is probably the key design issue to manage.

In general a 98-era database it is often easiest to just write new from scratch using a current version but move the tables. Tables themselves are nearly passive. One could import them into the new container but I might be tempted to use new tables in the new container and rely on a 1-time append query of linked tables to write all the data into brand new tables just to be safe.

[Starter-4-10]

Thank you, ranman256 and NTC.

Btw, by "standalone", I didn't mean "entirely self-sufficient". I meant, "It'll run, including adding/editing records, on computers with Access 2003+ & Windows Vista+ already installed."

So I'd hope a friend would be able to add their photos and text to their copy of the database - if that's ranman256's "external remote data"? - from their cameras etc, even though few would want to, and their input wouldn't go further than their copy.

The existing 7000 images will be added to, but rarely change (archeology). At present, there's no problem. They're held in folders in the same folder as the database. Clicking on an image (up to 4 per record) opens the appropriate photo folder, where a new image can be chosen, the choice written into a table, overwriting the previous choice.

NTC's suggests considering writing new from scratch. Certainly I've read that 'old' VBA can cause problems when 'read' by newer versions of Access. So, after getting the database running smoothly under Access 2003 & Windows 10, I'd like to get the VBA as modern as Access 2003 will run. Two problems: I'm not competent - not even enough to understand NTC's tables advice (but I'll do homework), and can't afford expertise.

Unless this reply changes your opinions, are you both answering my "Is it possible?" with "Yes - not difficult, if you know what you're doing"?

[CJ_London]

are you both answering my "Is it possible?" with "Yes - not difficult, if you know what you're doing"?

they are.