Hi John,
It should certainly be doable to move your Access 97 database to Access 2000, 2002 or even
2003. It may be a very easy conversion, or it might require a little work, depending on
how your 97 database was written. As always, make sure that you have a good back-up of
all of your data files, such as .mdb, .xls, .ppt, .doc, .dot, etc., on separate media (ie.
not on the same hard drive).
I believe the general word "out there" is that Access 2002 is a bit more stable than
Access 2000. It's probably too early to make any statements regarding the stability of
Access 2003. In any case, whatever version you end up getting, make sure that:
1) You're PC's hardware is capable of supporting it. Hardware requirements are typically
printed on the side of the box that the software is packaged into. Alternatively, you can
search Microsoft's web site and find this information for each version of Office. If
there is any way that your current hardware will support Windows 2000, that will give you
vastly better stability versus Windows ME.
2) You apply the latest service packs after installing the new version. For example, if
you end up with the incorrect version of the file VBE6.DLL, you can end up with the well
known error message: "Error Accessing File. Network Connection May Have Been Lost."
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=304548
3) Follow the best practices guidelines outlined in the following KB article. This
includes making sure that your copy of Windows ME has the latest service packs installed
and that the latest service pack for Jet is installed as well.
HOW TO: Keep a Jet 4.0 Database in Top Working Condition
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=303528
4) It would probably be a good idea to clean out the temporary files folder before and
after doing this upgrade. I believe the default location is C:\Windows\Temp on a Windows
Me machine, but I'm not positive. Also, it wouldn't hurt to defragment your hard drive.
These are basic preventative maintenance steps that should be carried out on all PC's
every so often.
There are certain conversion issues that you might run into with this database. However,
you should be in pretty good shape if you follow the advice I have outlined above. Post
back to this same thread if you need additional help after upgrading.
Tom
_________________________________________
I am currently running an Access 97 database program on a computer that uses Windows ME I
want to purchase a newer version of Access (e.g. Access 2002) and install it on the same
computer.
My 2 questions are:
Will the Access 97 database (its a charitable
donations multi-year database with several related
tables) trasfer to any of the newer versions of Access?
Are there specific versions of Access that will run
best on Windows ME? Which recent version would you
recommend?
My thanks to anyone willing to clarify these questions
for me. -John
