I have two separately licensed installations of Access 2003, one at
work and one at home. The blue bar at the top of both installations
says something like:
"db1 : Database (Access 2000 file format)".

Yesterday at work I notice a coworker's Access 2003 blue bar says:
"db1 : Database (Access 2000 - 2002 file format)".

If my coworker and I used the same installation disk then why the
difference in file formats?

Open any MDB or ADP, and from the Tools menu select Options. Select the
Advanced tab. Note the Default File Format drop-down list in the upper-right
corner.

See the article at the following URL for background info and guidance on
choosing a file format ...

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de...c_acFormat.asp

--
Brendan Reynolds
Access MVP

"Buck" <acuityman99-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have two separately licensed installations of Access 2003, one at
> work and one at home. The blue bar at the top of both installations
> says something like:
> "db1 : Database (Access 2000 file format)".
>
> Yesterday at work I notice a coworker's Access 2003 blue bar says:
> "db1 : Database (Access 2000 - 2002 file format)".
>
> If my coworker and I used the same installation disk then why the
> difference in file formats?
>

No, it will say Access 2002 - 2003 file format"!

You just change the setting in the advanced tab of options or explictly
convert to the relevant version for the database you have.

Access 2002 and 2003 use the same new format and they also use Access 2000
(when installed this is the default)

Use Access 2002/2003 for better stabilty and use with Access 2002/2003 MDEs.

Use Access 2000 for backward compatibility for the poor sods who still use
Access 2000.

--
Slainte

Craig Alexander Morrison
Crawbridge Data (Scotland) Limited

"Buck" <acuityman99-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>I have two separately licensed installations of Access 2003, one at
> work and one at home. The blue bar at the top of both installations
> says something like:
> "db1 : Database (Access 2000 file format)".
>
> Yesterday at work I notice a coworker's Access 2003 blue bar says:
> "db1 : Database (Access 2000 - 2002 file format)".
>
> If my coworker and I used the same installation disk then why the
> difference in file formats?
>

> Use Access 2002/2003 for better stabilty...

Says who? While I agree that you need to convert to this format to create a
..mde file, this is the first time I've ever read an opinion that the
2002/2003 file format results in better stability. In fact, Microsoft even
gives people a reason why they may want to stick to the 2000 file format
during their development work:

Database bloat is not stopped by compacting database with Access 2002 format
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=810415


Tom

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/ex...tributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

"Craig Alexander Morrison" wrote:

No, it will say Access 2002 - 2003 file format"!

You just change the setting in the advanced tab of options or explictly
convert to the relevant version for the database you have.

Access 2002 and 2003 use the same new format and they also use Access 2000
(when installed this is the default)

Use Access 2002/2003 for better stabilty and use with Access 2002/2003 MDEs.

Use Access 2000 for backward compatibility for the poor sods who still use
Access 2000.

--
Slainte

Craig Alexander Morrison
Crawbridge Data (Scotland) Limited

I think you'll find the use of decompile and not using track name
autocorrect will avoid that application problem, or even if it doesn't I use
them and have never had the problem. BTW you can also use the
SaveAsText\LoadAsText commands to create a full backup and restore a clean
application without these problems.

Another advantage to using 2002/2003 for your database is that it stops
Access 2000 from accessing your data, always a good thing to stop.

--
Slainte

Craig Alexander Morrison
Crawbridge Data (Scotland) Limited
"Tom Wickerath" <AOS168b AT comcast DOT net> wrote in message
newsA53B272-193A-499E-AA20-(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Use Access 2002/2003 for better stabilty...
>
> Says who? While I agree that you need to convert to this format to create
> a
> .mde file, this is the first time I've ever read an opinion that the
> 2002/2003 file format results in better stability. In fact, Microsoft even
> gives people a reason why they may want to stick to the 2000 file format
> during their development work:
>
> Database bloat is not stopped by compacting database with Access 2002
> format
> http://support.microsoft.com/?id=810415
>
>
> Tom
>
> http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/ex...tributors.html
> http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
> __________________________________________
>
> "Craig Alexander Morrison" wrote:
>
> No, it will say Access 2002 - 2003 file format"!
>
> You just change the setting in the advanced tab of options or explictly
> convert to the relevant version for the database you have.
>
> Access 2002 and 2003 use the same new format and they also use Access 2000
> (when installed this is the default)
>
> Use Access 2002/2003 for better stabilty and use with Access 2002/2003
> MDEs.
>
> Use Access 2000 for backward compatibility for the poor sods who still use
> Access 2000.
>
> --
> Slainte
>
> Craig Alexander Morrison
> Crawbridge Data (Scotland) Limited
>

Hi Craig,

Your first paragraph includes advice that can be done using the Access 2000
file format just as easily as using the 2002-2003 file format.

As for the second paragraph, I only distribute the front-end as a compiled
..mde file, therefore I have converted it to the 2002-2003 file format first.
So, it's really not an issue for me.

Tom

http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/ex...tributors.html
http://www.access.qbuilt.com/html/search.html
__________________________________________

"Craig Alexander Morrison" wrote:

I think you'll find the use of decompile and not using track name
autocorrect will avoid that application problem, or even if it doesn't I use
them and have never had the problem. BTW you can also use the
SaveAsText\LoadAsText commands to create a full backup and restore a clean
application without these problems.

Another advantage to using 2002/2003 for your database is that it stops
Access 2000 from accessing your data, always a good thing to stop.

--
Slainte