Jane Teresa Anderson

 

 

Database Developer

Using Different Versions of Microsoft Access

 

If you have any Access Databases that use earlier versions of Microsoft Access, e.g. Access 2003, Access 2000 you may find them opening inside the 2007 Access Runtime program.  If you don't want this to happen, you can edit your database shortcuts to make each Access file open in the version of Access you prefer.

 

They key to doing this correctly is to make the shortcut open the version of Access you want first, and then open the database file.

 

So the shortcut path is:

 

"Access Version"  "Access File" where

 

"Access Version" equals the path that opens Access and

 

"Access File" is the path where your database file resides on your computer.

 

Access Path

 

For example, if you have Microsoft Access 2003 installed, the path will be something like:

 

 

msaccess.exe is the Access Program

 

Therefore you would type this path in inverted commas in the first part of your shortcut path.

 

Access File

 

Then you need to locate where your other Access files are located.

 

For example, you might have an Access File saved in:

 

 

where "User" is the Username you log into when Windows starts.

 

Summary

 

So the full shortcut path in this example would look something like:

 

 

Note also there should be one keyboard space between the two paths.

 

Editing Desktop Shortcuts

 

You can edit any desktop shortcut by Right Clicking on it, selecting Properties, and then clicking on the Shortcut Tab

 

You edit the shortcut paths in the Target field as shown below and click the Apply button:

 

 

 

In the above example, I have a database that I created in Access 2003.  When I installed the Access 2007 Runtime program this database started opening in that.  I could still use my database, but if I wanted to develop it further or make design changes I would need to open Access 2003 and then open the database file that way. 

 

The Microsoft Access gurus over at Access Developers on Ning suggested changing the shortcuts to make our Access Databases open in the right version of Access.  Thank you to them for the information and suggestion.

 

 

You should not need to edit the shortcut to Dreamsight Diary Database Version 3 because its file extension tells your operating system to open the program in the Microsoft Access 2007 Runtime program.

 

The Microsoft Access Runtime Program is installed in the following default location on your computer: