Access 2003. Unrecognized Database Format

[Guest]

I am new Access User, because Excel will not open the this Big File (it does
open 65000 lines perfectly) It is an 800,000 KB DAT file. When I Start Access
and then try to Open the DAT file I get the message "Unrecognized Database
Format (followed by the file address). I tried the File Extension fix where I
added the DAT extension to the Registry, but no change. Please help direct
me. Do I need to "create" a data base in Access before I open this File?,
because I reall don't know the design of the file other than Excel opens part
of it OK> Thanks

 

[Guest]

Many applications use the file extension ".dat" to indicate a file that
contains data. The problem is that so many different programs use ".dat" that
it really doesn't tell you anything about the file, what it contains, or what
program it belongs to.

It is generally not a structured file format [in as an array of rows and
columns found in Excel].

Sometimes data from a source database can be exported in a dat file, with
spaces or commas between each 'column', however these are definitely not in a
table format that can be managed by access.

You may try to open this with Wordpad and then resave as a .txt file that
can be opened in Excel. From there save as an xls file which can be IMPORTED
into access as a table.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for helping. I will give this a try and respond. TC

Many applications use the file extension ".dat" to indicate a file that
contains data. The problem is that so many different programs use ".dat" that
it really doesn't tell you anything about the file, what it contains, or what
program it belongs to.

It is generally not a structured file format [in as an array of rows and
columns found in Excel].

Sometimes data from a source database can be exported in a dat file, with
spaces or commas between each 'column', however these are definitely not in a
table format that can be managed by access.

You may try to open this with Wordpad and then resave as a .txt file that
can be opened in Excel. From there save as an xls file which can be IMPORTED
into access as a table.

I am new Access User, because Excel will not open the this Big File (it does
open 65000 lines perfectly) It is an 800,000 KB DAT file. When I Start Access
and then try to Open the DAT file I get the message "Unrecognized Database
Format (followed by the file address). I tried the File Extension fix where I
added the DAT extension to the Registry, but no change. Please help direct
me. Do I need to "create" a data base in Access before I open this File?,
because I reall don't know the design of the file other than Excel opens part
of it OK> Thanks