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  1. #1
    Poohbear0471 is offline Advanced Beginner
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    .mdb -> .accdb conversion

    Good morning, folks,



    We're getting ready to update from Office 2010 to Office 365. Once this is done, I'd like to update my older .mdb formats to .accdb. Are there any known problems I should watch out for when I do this?

  2. #2
    isladogs's Avatar
    isladogs is offline MVP / VIP
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    In most cases, the conversion will be painless though newer versions are less forgiving of poorly constructed code.
    Recommend you install 32-bit Office as there are no real advantages to using 64-bit Access.

    ACCDB files are far more secure so its worth changing for that alone

    Some features have been dropped including user level security, replication and pivot charts.
    There are many new features, not all of them good
    Colin, Access MVP, Website, email
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  3. #3
    Bulzie is offline VIP
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    I've had issues with an older calendar control that later versions of Access did not have. Only other thing I can think of is watch your Reference dlls, newer versions of Access will have different versions so people not running the later versions of Access might get errors.

  4. #4
    Micron is online now Virtually Inert Person
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    To add to Bulzie's comment, if you have a mix of Access versions among users, you might want to keep them as mdb's until all are the same. I probably wouldn't convert right away regardless, preferring to see how they perform as is. I agree with the bit comment - don't install 64bit Access. IIRC, 64 bit Office itself is more trouble than not.
    The more we hear silence, the more we begin to think about our value in this universe.
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  5. #5
    isladogs's Avatar
    isladogs is offline MVP / VIP
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    Further to the previous comments.
    1. The old calendar control was scrapped in A2010 and replaced with the date picker. There are alternatives if that isn't good enough for your needs.
    2. Always develop in the lowest version of Access that any of your users have.
    Version specific references (e.g. Excel 14.0) will be updated correctly for those with newer versions but not the other way round.
    Or use late binding to avoid having to load those references anyway.
    3. For file security reasons, I take the opposite view to Micron. I would convert to ACCDB but do so in A2010 (for the reasons stated above)
    4. The default installation is now 64-bit. If you have any APIs, installing that bitness will mean all API declaration will need to be modified. Lots of work & no benefit (in Access)
    Colin, Access MVP, Website, email
    The more I learn, the more I know I don't know. When I don't know, I keep quiet!
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  6. #6
    Micron is online now Virtually Inert Person
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    update my older .mdb formats to .accdb.
    By that I figured these were back ends, not front ends otherwise this would be about mde vs accde. Perhaps that's not the case. I sort of doubt that you would make back ends accde as well.

  7. #7
    isladogs's Avatar
    isladogs is offline MVP / VIP
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    Possibly so, but if these are BE files, all the comments about pivot charts, calendar controls, references etc are irrelevant
    Its also extremely unlikely that there would be any conversion issues.

    Some people do use ACCDE for BE files but I agree that doing so is utterly pointless

    Anyway, in my opinion, its just as important to convert the data file due to the hugely improved ACCDB file security over that in MDB files
    Colin, Access MVP, Website, email
    The more I learn, the more I know I don't know. When I don't know, I keep quiet!
    If I don't know that I don't know, I don't know whether to answer

  8. #8
    Poohbear0471 is offline Advanced Beginner
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    Thanks everyone! I don't have any control over which version of Office we get. My stuff is just for my team. I won't convert my files until after we get our Office update, so everyone will have the same version. I think you answered all of my concerns and I greatly appreciate your input.

Please reply to this thread with any new information or opinions.

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