Missing files

[Joy]

HELP! HELP! HELP! I'm not sure what happened, but I had 4 different
databases on Microsoft Access but I can't seem to access them. Before when I
would start up Access, I would click on to a file named ASPIES. All 4 of my
databases would appear there. Now when I click on ASPIES nothing appears
(only the blank gray screen with the Access header & tab info). I did a
search of my computer and found what appears to be the Access file entitled
ASPIES with 704 kb of info. I believe this is the right file because a 2nd
file I had under "old data" was only 200 kb of data from January 2008 (back
when I only had 1 database). I can access that data through search, but when
I try to access the 704 kb file, it goes to the same blank gray screen
mentioned above. I NEED THAT DATA!!! HELP! HELP! HELP!

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

HELP! HELP! HELP! I'm not sure what happened, but I had 4 different
databases on Microsoft Access but I can't seem to access them. Before
when I
would start up Access, I would click on to a file named ASPIES. All 4 of
my
databases would appear there. Now when I click on ASPIES nothing appears
(only the blank gray screen with the Access header & tab info). I did a
search of my computer and found what appears to be the Access file
entitled
ASPIES with 704 kb of info. I believe this is the right file because a
2nd
file I had under "old data" was only 200 kb of data from January 2008
(back
when I only had 1 database). I can access that data through search, but
when
I try to access the 704 kb file, it goes to the same blank gray screen
mentioned above. I NEED THAT DATA!!! HELP! HELP! HELP!

I'm not sure of what has happened, but try this: click on ASPIES, and then
when you get the blank gray screen, press the F11 key. Does your database
window appear?

If that doesn't work, we'll have to look harder.

 

[Joy]

No, unfortunately, pressing the F11 did nothing.
Joy

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

No, unfortunately, pressing the F11 did nothing.

Drat! That was my best hope.

How about holding down the Shift key while you open the database file?

 

[Joy]

So much for your best hope & 2nd best hope.....perhaps 3rd time will be a
charm?
Okay! Wait a minute....I went back in & tried something I had tried earlier
that a friend had suggested (trying to open my files in Excel). It didn't
work before, but this time it did (somewhat). (Yes, I'm blonde, but NO that
had nothing to do with it! Ha! Ha!) The files I wanted were listed
there.....So, I started opening each one up in Excel, verified the info was
all there, and then saved a copy to a new folder. PLUS, I copied each one
into a Word document (figuring better to have to retype them then lose them
completely). Turns out there were 6 folders not 4, BUT when I went back to
open the 5th one, it wasn't showing as only 4 show in the window. When I
click on "more workbooks", I can't find the last two! At least I know those
2 files I can eventually reconstruct. MY QUESTION NOW: How can I convert
those Excel saved files back into Access?!?!
Joy

 

[John W. Vinson]

So much for your best hope & 2nd best hope.....perhaps 3rd time will be a
charm?
Okay! Wait a minute....I went back in & tried something I had tried earlier
that a friend had suggested (trying to open my files in Excel). It didn't
work before, but this time it did (somewhat). (Yes, I'm blonde, but NO that
had nothing to do with it! Ha! Ha!) The files I wanted were listed
there.....So, I started opening each one up in Excel, verified the info was
all there, and then saved a copy to a new folder. PLUS, I copied each one
into a Word document (figuring better to have to retype them then lose them
completely). Turns out there were 6 folders not 4, BUT when I went back to
open the 5th one, it wasn't showing as only 4 show in the window. When I
click on "more workbooks", I can't find the last two! At least I know those
2 files I can eventually reconstruct. MY QUESTION NOW: How can I convert
those Excel saved files back into Access?!?!
Joy

YIPE!

Opening an Access database in Word will quite reliably permanently and
irrevokably destroy it. I wasn't aware that you *could* open it in Excel - I
think you were very, very lucky.

But if you create a new, empty Access database, you can use File... Get
External Data... Import, and select .xls as Files Of Type to import
spreadsheets. That will at least get you back your data (not your user
interface unfortunately).

Backups !!! Backups !!! Backups !!! Current tested backups !!!

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

So much for your best hope & 2nd best hope.....perhaps 3rd time will be a
charm?
Okay! Wait a minute....I went back in & tried something I had tried
earlier
that a friend had suggested (trying to open my files in Excel). It didn't
work before, but this time it did (somewhat). (Yes, I'm blonde, but NO
that
had nothing to do with it! Ha! Ha!) The files I wanted were listed
there.....So, I started opening each one up in Excel, verified the info
was
all there, and then saved a copy to a new folder. PLUS, I copied each one
into a Word document (figuring better to have to retype them then lose
them
completely). Turns out there were 6 folders not 4, BUT when I went back
to
open the 5th one, it wasn't showing as only 4 show in the window. When I
click on "more workbooks", I can't find the last two! At least I know
those
2 files I can eventually reconstruct. MY QUESTION NOW: How can I
convert
those Excel saved files back into Access?!?!

Interesting -- I didn't know you could do that with Excel. I don't believe
you'll be able to save those files directly back into Access; instead,
you'd have to create a new Access database file and import the Excel
worksheets into it from Access.

But before you do that, let's try one more thing, and if that doesn't work,
you can send me your database file and I'll see if I can recover it.

First, try this: open the database in Access as you normally would. When
it opens and all you see is the "gray screen", click the menu item Window ->
Cascade. If the database window has just been moved off-screen somewhere,
that should bring it back.

If that doesn't work, you may send me your database, if you like, and I'll
have a go at it, time permitting. You can send it to the address derived by
removing NO SPAM and ".invalid" from the reply address of this message. If
that address isn't visible to you, you can get my address from my web site,
which is listed in my sig. Do *not* post my real address in the
newsgroup -- I don't want to be buried in spam and viruses.