How do I merge multiple files to one large file in Access?

[Guest]

I have several large files that come from a industrial computer system that
tracks data on each product that we run. This file is regenerated each day
and creates a new database file each day. I want to merge all of these files
into one large file and have the program go out each day and see if new data
needs to be added.

 

[Joseph Meehan]

I have several large files that come from a industrial computer
system that tracks data on each product that we run. This file is
regenerated each day and creates a new database file each day. I
want to merge all of these files into one large file and have the
program go out each day and see if new data needs to be added.

Details and what approach would be best would depend on facts you have
not posted.

One approach would be to import the data into a new table (several ways
of doing this depending on factors like normalization and consistency of the
data) then use an append query to add to a table with the same field
definitions. Care may be needed to prevent duplicate data etc.

 

[Jeff Boyce]

Elwood

Not nearly enough specific information...

What is the format of the data generated by the industrial system? If
"regenerated" each day, how much of a "history" are you planning to keep in
Access? What happens if the Access routine fails one day ... is the
industrial system data lost forever?

What kind of data points are being collected? Are these already
well-normalized, or will you need to set up a relational table structure and
handle parsing the incoming data out to well-normalized tables and fields?

More info, please!

Regards

Jeff Boyce
Microsoft Office/Access MVP