Creating an Access Database Template

[Tom James]

I haven't used Access for awhile, but there doesn't seem to be a way to save
an Access database as a template as you would an Excel file.

I tried renaming the database file and giving it an mdz extension and then
dragging into the templates folder. When I open my templates folder to
create a new database based on a template, there it was. I thought that
worked but it created another copy of the "template" in the folder with the
same extension (mdz) instead of creating a mdb file.

Am I missing something simple here, or is there no simple way to create a
template?

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

Simply make a copy of the "template" database, renaming it as whatever.mdb,
every time you need a new database like it. There really isn't much point in
template databases.

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

On a conceptual level, every time you build/create a form, you are building
a template.

So, just copy the database......

A form actually does NOT have any data, and that form is the "template" for
the data in the table. So, by default, a form is a template. Each new record
you add should be using a that same form. So, it would be bizarre, weird, or
not even make sense to try and save a database as a template.

So, in effect, our forms are templates.

You can certainly while looking at a form in design mode, go save-as to make
a copy of a existing form. Furhter, an application with forms etc. is like
to have code, tables, and even reports needed. So, then you simply just copy
the database if you need it for another use.

Use caution here however, as the most amateur mistake you can make is to
copy the database over and over. The instant you make a copy of the database
for each month, or year of data is the instant you are thinking like a
spread sheet. This instant is also the same instant you would be fired from
a developer team!

By making a copy of the database for each set of data, then you cannot
*relate* the data, or even report across time periods. In place of copying
the database for each month (for example) , you simply add ONE column to the
table of data. That way, you can report on data over a few months, or even a
few years.

So, the template analogy you seek does not make any kind of sense in
ms-access sat all. If the data is able to use the same template, why would
you spread it out through many different files all over the place and make
reporting of all that data impossible?

So, I suppose a "save as" template feature is also missing as to take away a
rope that users would hang themselves with. You don't want to encourage uses
to "copy" the same database over and over. You want to *encourage* that user
to simply *DESIGN* an application that solves the task at hand, and
encourage keeping the data in the sample application.

 

[Tom James]

Thanks for your response, Doug. I thought along the same lines

I may be using Access databases for a few web sites that a pretty similar,
so I thought that having a quick prototype would save me a little time.
Since there are templates available in the template folder, I thought that I
could do the same.

Any way, thanks for taking the time to reply,

Tom

 

[Tom James]

Albert,

Thanks for your response. I read it carefully. My intention was never to use
additional databases for the same data.

I may be using different Access databases for a few web sites that a pretty
similar, so I thought that having a quick, simple prototype that I could
build on would save me a little time. Since there are templates available in
the template folder, I thought that I could do the same. I am a little rusty
with Access, but I have created a couple of Access databases in the past
that worked well.

Any way, thanks for taking the time to reply.

Tom

 

[Larry Linson]

The difference between Access database "templates" and other Office
templates is that an Access template is, in fact, a simple application
generator, using Forms and user's choices to modify the design of the basic
application. You can do it, but it is a non-trivial process which usually
gives trivial, if any, benefit.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Access MVP