Long data values, such as memo fields, may be stored in subsidiary pages used specifically for long values.Ī Microsoft Access database may be split across files. Data pages: These pages contain the actual data, stored by row.Includes a map of pages that contain the row data for this table. Table definition page: Each table has at least one definition page, specifying columns, data types, indexes, etc.First page: Contains database header information including identification of the Jet DB version with which the file is compatible, file security information, and a "map" of page usage.The file consists of fixed-size pages (2048 bytes for Jet DB 3 4096 bytes for Jet DB 4), with the first byte indicating the type of page. Developer Considerations When Choosing a File Format in Access 2002 explains compatibility issues between the format introduced in Access 2002 and its 2000 predecessor.Īccording to The Unofficial MDB Guide and Brian Bruns's HACKING file, the structure for the MDB format since Access 97 has the following general structure. The PRONOM team decided to retain the four separate entries. See Notes below for more detail on releases and discussion on migrating old MDB databases to newer formats and different products.Ī PRONOM forum thread in March 2013 discussed whether it was necessary to have separate PRONOM entries for Access 95 and 97 and for both Access 2000 and Access 2002-2003. More recent versions of Microsoft Access, through Access 2016 (the most recent version as of early 2017), can still create and save databases in the MDB format, providing a compatibility choice between Access 2000 and Access 2002-2003. ANSI SQL 89) would result in files not compatible with Access 2000. If used, new features, including PivotTable views, support for XML, and an updated version of SQL (ANSI SQL 92 vs. Support for this format was dropped in Microsoft Access 2013. The Unofficial MDB Guide describes itself as "Tech Specs for the JET format used by Access 1997-2010." Several tools for viewing or manipulating MDB files indicate support for versions back to Access 97. As of early 2017, Microsoft still provides instructions online for importing an Access 95 database into Access 2007. As of early 2017, Microsoft still provides instructions online for importing an Access 2.0 database into versions of Access from 2000 through 2007. Support for this format was dropped in Microsoft Access 2010. Apart from a signature identified at PRONOM ( PUID: x-fmt/66), no useful description has been identified by the compilers of this resource for this MDB format version. Support for these format versions was dropped in Microsoft Access 2010. No useful description has been identified by the compilers of this resource for the structure of this version of MDB file. Versions of the MDB format that are usually listed as significantly different correspond to: See Identifying the Jet Database Engine Components for details of the association of MDB versions with Jet DB versions through Access 97. MDB file format versions are associated with versions of Microsoft's Jet Database Engine (Jet DB), used as the basis for Access and as part of other products. See, for example, Which Access file format should I use? from Microsoft. Despite the advantages of the ACCDB format, there are still reasons to use MDB with Microsoft Access 2016. See ACCDB_family and, for example, File Formats: ACCDB vs MDB | Access 2007 and Later Use the ACCDB File Format. With Access 2007, Microsoft introduced a new default file format, using the. However, the underlying MDB format changed significantly over the years. Microsoft Access versions from Access 1.0 (1992) through Access 2003, used the. Based on reverse engineering analysis, The unofficial MDB Guide provides an informal description of the MDB format, claiming to cover versions introduced since 1997. Microsoft has provided no public specification for the MDB format, but has supported programming access via the Open Database Connectivity ( ODBC) standard and Visual Basic for Applications ( VBA).
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mdb extension has been used for a series of proprietary file format versions, developed and used by Microsoft as a native format for its Microsoft Access desktop database management system, which was first released in 1992. Other facets: unitary, binary, structured, symbolic.