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How do I open an old .MDB file?

Anonymous
2024-06-12T23:37:16+00:00

Hi,

I'm using a MBP and trying to open up an old .mdb file that contains content from a former email provider. I tried Excel and that didn't work. Thanks for any assistance!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Excel | For home | MacOS

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  1. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-06-17T17:21:07+00:00

    Hi

    The copy of Microsoft Access you found can open your mdb file and show you the table information the mdb file contains. The mdb file is an attachment to the email message. It will not contain any information about the email message such as sender, to, email dates, etc.

    Microsoft Access can save the table information as Excel workbooks, and then you can open them in Excel on Mac.

    A detailed explanation of ODBC is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Database_Connectivity

    A short explanation of ODBC is that you purchase and install an inexpensive (about $40 US) application called a "driver" that extends Excel's capabilities. The driver looks into the mdb file and finds the tables, which you can then import into Excel. That said, the same table information you see in Microsoft Access is what you will get with an ODBC driver. If Microsoft Access showed little or no data in the mdb file, you'll get the same result with an ODBC driver.

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  2. Jim G 134K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2024-06-14T01:19:05+00:00

    If all you need is the table data from the MDB file you can use an ODBC driver and get the tables into Excel.

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  3. Rory Archibald 18,885 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2024-06-13T10:14:02+00:00

    mdb is the old Access database format. Do you have a copy of windows available that you can use (either in a virtual machine or dual booting)? If not, I think RazorSQL can open mdb files. There is also mdb viewer: https://eggerapps.at/mdbviewer/

    Note: I have no personal experience of either of those programs.

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  4. Anonymous
    2024-06-14T22:30:46+00:00

    Rory,

    Thanks. I found an old Access application and it seemed to open the file though it didn't provide the all the content of the emails I hoped to find. I'll check out the Egger app you suggested. I appreciate your earlier response!

    Todd

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  5. Anonymous
    2024-06-13T09:44:34+00:00

    Dear todd,

    Welcome to the Microsoft Community, I'm glad to have this opportunity to help you with your issue.

    It seems like that you are having problems opening a .mdb file on your MacBook Pro.

    We understand that this is an inconvenience for you and we will do our best to find the cause of this issue for you.

    Since we have limited of this issue at this time, we may need your assistance.

    First we would like to know the details of your Mac system and the version of Office. You can also refer to About Office: About Office: What version of Office am I using? - Microsoft Support for the current Office version.

    In addition, we would like to know what specific error you encountered when you were unable to open it? It would be great if you could provide us with the relevant error information.

    If it's convenient, you can also share this file with us via private message and we'll run a detailed test to find out the problem.

    Here is how to view account:

    Your response will determine our next steps and I look forward to any updates you may have on this issue.

    Best wishes

    Ian - MSFT | Microsoft Community Support Specialist

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