Description of supported data sources for importing, exporting, and linking in an Access 2000 database

MORE INFORMATION

Access 2000 supports the following file formats.

File type	Extension	Import	Link	Export
Microsoft Access 1.x	.mdb	No	No	No
Microsoft Access 2.0	.mdb	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Access 7.0	.mdb	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Access 97	.mdb	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Access 2000	.mdb	Yes	Yes	Yes
Text (Delimited)	.txt	Yes	Yes	Yes
Text (Fixed Width)	.txt	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Excel 3.0	.xls	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Excel 4.0	.xls	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Excel 4.0	.xlw	No	No	No
Microsoft Excel 5.0-7.0	.xls	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Excel 97	.xls	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Excel 2000	.xls	Yes	Yes	Yes
Lotus 1-2-3	.wk1	Yes	Yes(1)	Yes
Lotus 1-2-3 3.0	.wk3	Yes	Yes(1)	Yes
dBASE III	.dbf	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
dBASE IV	.dbf	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
dBASE V	.dbf	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
Paradox 3.0	.db	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
Paradox 4.0	.db	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
Paradox 5.0	.db	Yes	Yes(2)	Yes
Exchange/Outlook	.pst	Yes	Yes	No
HTML	.html, .htm	Yes	Yes	Yes
Microsoft Internet Database Connector	.idc/.htx	No	No	Yes
Microsoft Active Server Pages	.asp	No	No	Yes
Rich Text Format	.rtf	No	No	Yes
ODBC Datasources(3)	N/A	Yes	Yes	Yes

Notes:

1. Lotus 1-2-3 files can be linked, but they will be read-only.
2. Linked dBASE and Paradox tables will be read-only unless you have the Borland Database Engine (BDE) installed on you computer. For more information, see the articles described in the "References" section later in this article.
   
   NOTE: If you install the latest Microsoft Jet 4.O service pack, you do not need the BDE to have write access to Paradox and dBASE files. The latest service pack resolves this limitation. For information about how to obtain Microsoft Jet 4.O Service Pack 5, see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   239114 How to obtain the latest service pack for the Microsoft Jet 4.0 Database Engine

3. Working with an ODBC data source requires that you have the correct and up-to-date ODBC drivers for the data source that you are using. For example, Access 2000 no longer provides an ISAM driver for Microsoft FoxPro files (.DBC). However, you can use the ODBC drivers that ship with Access to connect to FoxPro files. See the "References" section later in this article.
4. When linking text files, the existing data cannot be edited. Records can be added to the linked text file, but once the record has been committed, existing records cannot be updated.

The list above differs slightly from the information that you find in the Access 2000 Help file. The information in the Help file is not accurate; the list above provides the correct information.

The following Help topics have inaccurate information:

• Data sources Microsoft Access can import or link
• Data formats Microsoft access can export
• Import or link Paradox tables
• Import or link dBase files

The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.