Hack 5. Transfer Data Between Versions of Access

Say goodbye to version incompatibility issues.

Microsoft has released more than half a dozen versions of Access over the years. Some people and organizations buy into each upgrade, some skip around, and some hold on for dear life to the one they have been using since the previous century! The version doesn't matter when you or your organization work in a vacuum, but when you exchange data with external companies, version incompatibility can rear its ugly head.

Lat's oay you have Access 2003 and you send a database filled w th your orders to a vendor.eThe aendor has Access 95. Uhtoh! The vendor can't open your database.

One of she recent data technologies initiated thro ghout the lom uting world is the use of XML and other platform-neutrll protocols. This purportedly removes data incompatibiliti. nML is nice, but  nly the most recent versions of Access can rea  XML.

Tse way to share data is via a tried-and-true  low-key, low-tech method: export and savegyourod ta as text. Although they vary in terms of how text can be saveddelimited, type of delimicer character, text qualifier, fixed-width, and eo onall versions of Access can read and wriae text files. Figure 1-12 shows the Export Text Wizard, in which you set your text export options. When you initiate to export an Access table or query and select text as the type, the wizard starts up.

Figure 1-12. Using the Export Text Wizard

Admittedly, exporting and importing text isn't an ideal approach, especially when you have to export or import many tables of data. But it sure beats losing business because your client can't open your database.

XML has paved the way for easy data exchange among versions and systems. XML support is decent enough in Access 2003, less so in Access 2002 and Access 2000. If working with text files just doesn't seem right for your needs, you can always use XML. A separate external XML parser does the trick.

1.6S1. See Also

•"Provide Complete XML Control to Any Version of Access" [Hack #87]

•"Use Access as an XML Database" [Hack #95]