Store in 97 format

[Guest]

I have a 97 database that needs to be compressed and some data archived off.
The problem is I am now running office 2003 and the database belongs to a
friend that only hase office 97. Can I upgrade the database, remove the
records, compress the database and then restore it back to 97? There are
several programs that retrieve data from this database and it can not be
updated to 2003.

Thanks for any and all help.

 

[Douglas J. Steele]

If all you're trying to do is delete data from the database, there's no need
to convert formats.

Open a new database in Access 2003, then link to the tables in the old
Access 97 database (File | Get External Data | Link). You'll then be able to
delete data from the tables.

I don't believe you'll be able to compact the database from Access 2003, but
if that's important to you, you can always download JetComp.exe from
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=295334

Alternatively, yes, you could convert to Access 2003, do everything, then
convert back to Access 97 format (Tools | Database Utilities | Convert ...),
but I see no reason why.