multiuser access question

[charles]

i have some excel knowledge but no practical experience with Access.

Is it possible to create an access database where multiple users can enter
data over a local area network at the same time. If so then is it possible
and how is it possible to prevent overwriting of data to the database?

ie if employee x opens the database and then y does at the same time. if y
saves his data and then x saves his data after y does will y's data be
overwritten?

 

[John W. Vinson]

i have some excel knowledge but no practical experience with Access.

Is it possible to create an access database where multiple users can enter
data over a local area network at the same time.

Yes. Access is multiuser out of the box.

If so then is it possible
and how is it possible to prevent overwriting of data to the database?

Proper table and form design.

ie if employee x opens the database and then y does at the same time. if y
saves his data and then x saves his data after y does will y's data be
overwritten?

Normally x and y will be editing different records in a table, or even
different tables. In Excel terms think of different rows on a sheet, or
different sheets (though Access does NOT have spreadsheets or numbered rows in
the sense that you are used to).

A Form is normally used to edit data in tables; by default a form uses
"optimistic locking", which means that if two users attempt to edit the same
record at the same time, the second user's edits will fail with a warning
message like "The record was changed by another user". If two users are adding
new records to a table at the same time, or editing different records at the
same time, no conflict arises.

One big difference between Access and Excel is that an Access database is
*not* a document: there isn't even a File... Save option to "save" the
database! Instead it is a container for multiple tables, forms, reports, and
other objects; multiple users can be running Access as a programming
environment, and all "saving" happens on a record-by-record basis.