Access 2010 (version 14 of Access) can work with the data and tables in a database file created by Access version 2, version 7 (Access for Windows 95), version 8 (Access 97), version 9 (Access 2000), version 10 (Access 2002), version 11 (Access 2003), and version 12 (Access 2007). For version 2, you can only import the tables and queries in the old database into a new database that you create using Access 2010. Depending on the complexity of the application, you might be able to open and run a version 7 or version 8 database application with version 14, but you won’t be able to modify any of the objects in the database. You can open a version 9, version 10, version 11, or version 12 database with version 14 and modify any of the objects in the database.
You can convert a version 7 or version 8 database file to either the Access 2000 format (version 9), the Access 2002-2003 format (versions 10 and 11), or the Access 2007 .accdb format (version 12 and version 14). Before you begin the conversion process, make sure all Access Basic or Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) modules are compiled in your earlier version database. If you want to convert your database to the .accdb file format, start Access 2010, click the File tab on the Backstage view, click Save & Publish, and then click Access Database (*.accdb) under Save Database As. Access opens the Save As dialog box. You must specify a different file name or location for your converted database because Access won’t let you replace your previous version file directly. Click Save to convert the database. If you want to convert your database to the Access 2000 or Access 2002–2003 format, start Access 2010, click the File tab on the Backstage view, click Save & Publish, and then click either Access 2000 Database (*.mdb) or Access 2002-2003 Database (*.mdb). Access opens the Save As dialog box. You must specify a different file name or location for your converted database because Access won’t let you replace your previous version file directly. Click Save to convert the database.
If you open a version 2, version 7, or version 8 database in Access 2010, you will see a dialog box offering to convert the database to the current version or attempt to modify the database for shared use between versions. For these versions, we recommend that you attempt to convert them rather than modify them for shared use. You won’t be able to convert a database that contains anything other than tables and queries. You must create a new Access 2007/2010 format database and import tables and queries from a version 2 database that has forms, reports, macros, or modules. You can also convert an earlier-version database by creating a new Access 2007/2010 format database and then importing all the objects from the older version database.
Access 2010 reports any objects or properties that it is unable to convert by creating a table called Convert Errors in your converted database. The most common problems you’re likely to encounter are Microsoft Visual Basic libraries that were available in a previous version but not in Access 2010, and obsolete code that you created in a user-defined function.
Other changes that might affect the conversion of your application code or how your converted application runs include the following:
In versions 7 and earlier, you had to use macros to construct custom menus. Access 2010 continues to support macros for custom menus, but you might want to rebuild custom ribbons using Extensible Markup Language (XML).
As of version 8, DoMenuItem is no longer supported. The conversion utility replaces this command in all macros with the equivalent RunMenuCommand action or method. The DoMenuItem method in Visual Basic code is still supported for backward compatibility, but you should locate and change these statements after converting your database.
In version 8, you could create a formatted Windows dialog box with the MsgBox action or function, separating the sections of the message with the @ character. Version 9 and later no longer support this feature. You should remove the @ character used in this way in code you wrote for version 8.
Versions 7 and 8 supported the Microsoft DAO 2.5/3.x compatibility library for databases converted from previous versions. Version 9 and later no longer support this library. You will need to replace the reference to this library to the Microsoft Office 14.0 Access Database Engine Object Library after you convert the database, and you might need to change old Visual Basic statements that depended on the older version of Data Access Objects (DAO).
If you convert a database by importing its objects, your new database might not compile or execute properly. The problem is most likely a reference to an obsolete Visual Basic code library. You can correct this by opening any module in the Visual Basic Editor and then clicking Tools, References. Remove any libraries marked MISSING and attempt to compile the project.
Unless you also have Office 2003 installed on your computer, you won’t be able to edit any data access pages that you created in Access 2003.