How to open an mdb file on my mac

[Brad G]

I have an online database that was built in access. I would like to
download the data into excel ( or possibly entourage) on my mac. ( I
have office v.X)
I used an FTP to retrieve the database to my desktop and now have this
file in a mdp format and I cant do anything with it.
Any suggestions.
Also I keep getting the "Microsoft query not installed message" when
trying to get any external data. It is installed.

Thank-you

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi

You've got the right general idea, but the specifics are off a bit.

If you've got MS Query downloaded and installed you're most of the way
there. The next thing you need is to install an ODBC driver. You use the
ODBC driver instead of FTP. Leave the mbd file right where it is - don't
bring it to your desktop. Since you already have the ability to read this
file the file permissions are likely to be OK for using ODBC.

This article tells you where to get an ODBC driver that will work with
Excel:
ODBC integration in Excel X
<http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/excelx/using.aspx?pid=usingexcelx&typ
e=howto&article=/mac/LIBRARY/feature_articles/officex/xl_ODBC.xml>

When you read the article it will suggest that you visit the OpenLink
company site:
http://www.openlinksw.com/

When you get there click the "Download Software" button.

Then click the Data Access download button.

The click the Wizard button and follow the instructions. The download will
give you a driver and separate license file. The license is good for 30 days
so you can try it out and see if you like it (you probably will!).

Once you have the ODBC driver installed you should be able to use the Data
menu in Excel. Data > Get External Data > New Database Query. When you do
that, choose the mdb file as the data source and MS Query will start up.

The MS Query interface is very much like the Query interface in MS Access
(actually I like it a little better). You can use MS Query's graphical user
interface or type in your own SQL queries. You can even do parameter
queries.

If you want to learn SQL I'm partial to the little book, "A Guide to SQL" by
Philip Pratt. Start on page one and follow through the examples. You might
have to change a curly bracket or two to get the examples to work, but
you'll find the changes trivial. Here's a link to the book at Amazon.
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0619033827/inktomi-bkasin-20/ref=n
osim/103-1317114-9855826>

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

All responses should be made to this newsgroup within the same thread.
Thanks.

About Microsoft MVPs:
http://www.mvps.org/

Search for help with the free Google search Excel add-in:
<http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm>

----------

 

[James Chin]

Hi Jim,

This isn't quite right either.

OpenLink is the right place to get ODBC drivers on Mac OS X, but we do
not provide ODBC Drivers for MS Access on any platform. As far as I
know, other than the Driver provided by Microsoft for Windows
platforms, there are no ODBC Drivers for MS Access.

We do provide an Multi-Tier Driver suite that contains an ODBC Bridge
that proxies connections to third-party ODBC Drivers. Prereqs for
using this product with an MS Access .mdb file:

1) The .mdb file has to reside on a Windows machine.
2) The Microsoft provided ODBC Driver for MS Access needs to be
installed on the same Windows machine.
3) An ODBC DSN using the Access ODBC Driver needs to be created.

Note: the aforementioned Windows machine can be running on OS X via a
Virtual PC instance.

OpenLink's Multi-Tier Driver suite consists of server-side and
client-side components. The server-side components need to be
installed on the Windows machine (or the Virtual PC instance), while
the client portion goes on the Mac machine. During the download
process, you'll need to ensure that you choose the ODBC Bridge agent.

Installation and configuration is straight-forward for both
components. On the Mac, when you're choosing to configure your ODBC
DSN, you need to specify "ODBC" as your domain, and the name of
Windows ODBC DSN as the "Database". In other words, in the above
number three (3), if you name the ODBC DSN "MSAccessODBC" you would
pass "MSAccessODBC" as the database name for the Mac ODBC DSN.

Once you've configured this ODBC DSN on the Mac, you should be able to
use the Data menu in Excel:

Data > Get External Data > New Database Query.

When you do that, choose the Mac ODBC DSN as the data source. MS
Query should at that point start up.

Let me know if this helps

Regards,

James Chin
OpenLink Software Inc.
Universal Data Access Middleware Providers
http://www.openlinksw.com

 

[Jim Gordon]

Hi James,

Thank you for posting this information. Your company has always offered the
best in customer service. I am sure this will help many others.

-Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

All responses should be made to this newsgroup within the same thread.
Thanks.

About Microsoft MVPs:
http://www.mvps.org/

Search for help with the free Google search Excel add-in:
<http://www.rondebruin.nl/Google.htm>

----------

 

[google]

It is a shame you don't want to access this solution via Windows as you would have lots more solutions to have a look at http://www.easysoft.com/products/data_access/odbc-access-driver/index.html