Microsoft Access on Mac OS

What Mac are you on? You might have to go through Parallels if you're on an Intel.

I know nothing about this process, or using a database, but maybe the following can help:

http://odbcrouter.com/downloadx.shtml
http://www.actualtechnologies.com/product_access.php

FileMaker is a well known database app for Macs.
Here it also talks about an Access 'importer', FmPro Migrator.

Hope this helps.

::20ROGERSC::

WINE would be a good alternative, access may work with it.

CrossOver Mac Beta Released

Very good freeware would be Open office which has access support.

bloodycape said:

Very good freeware would be Open office which has access support.

Click to expand...

I have this same Access problem, SO I'm Downloading OpenOffice now, going to test it with a M$ Access file. Hope this works. A $3000 job is riding on this.

No Luck, cant get Open Office to read a M$ Access file... anyone else have any luck
Or maybe a PC i can borrow??? hehe

At least consider migrating your DB tables at least to one of the many versions of MS SQL Server. Access is a toy, SQL server is a database, and you can make very nice web front ends for it.

B

Try CrossOver or Parallels... and run the Windows version of the app.

Can you move them across to MySQL instead? Nice free db.

Microsoft Access

People,
Microsoft Access is a hugely powerful, flexible development environment.
It is not a toy and it is certainly NOT an end user tool.
This is Microsoft's big error - telling people it is a database system for end users to create their own relational databases. Nor are Filemaker, Approach, INGRES, Oracle... etc. end user tools. They are all database management systems and application development environments for use by professionals. If you let a user loose with Filemaker they are just as likely to mess it up - just ask your average user to describe Normalisation...
My company supports over 500 organisations using our systems developed using MSAccess in front of SQL Server or SQL Express. We have not had a single days downtime in more than 12 years.
There are sites with many milliosn of records on the systems and scores or even hundreds of concurrent users. In parallel we also have remote users accessing the same backends through asp or .net based online applications.
It all works extremely well.
Please stop talking about Access unless you too have developed enterprise scale applications using it.
Regards
Jim Moores

silence said:

Hi, I work in a PC dominated work environment, and we are using a Microsoft Access database. I need to at least view the database on my computer too!

I have MS Office installed, but apparently it doesn't come with Access.

Is there a versioun out for Mac? If not, are there any third party applications that can allow me to view Access databases? ?

Any help would be much much appreciated!!!!!!!

Thank you

Click to expand...

Microsoft is an interesting company when it comes to marketing their products on the Windows side of the house.

Looking at Microsoft Office regarding the standard apps (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access).

Windows Versions (US)
- Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access)
- Standard (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)

Windows Versions (Japanese)
- Professional (Word, Excel and PowerPoint)
- Standard (Word and Excel)

If you just need to look at the data while on the go, you could look at exporting into Excel.

If you want to be able to review, change and edit data, then probably the easiest way is to run Windows XP via Parallels or VMware, and then run the Access application that way.

One issue is compatibility. In the past 8 years, there have been the following Access versions: 2000, XP(2002), 2003 and 2007.

AFAIK, and I am sure someone may know of an exception, there is no other DBMS system out there than can merely open an Access database, edit the database (record/field structure, forms, reports, queries, etc.), add/delete records (data), and be totally compatible. That is why my recommendation is to go with the solution above.

If on the other hand, you just need to see the data, there are a variety of options available to view the data.

DBMS are not for everyone.

jimmoores said:

People,
Microsoft Access is a hugely powerful, flexible development environment.
It is not a toy and it is certainly NOT an end user tool.
This is Microsoft's big error - telling people it is a database system for end users to create their own relational databases. Nor are Filemaker, Approach, INGRES, Oracle... etc. end user tools. They are all database management systems and application development environments for use by professionals. If you let a user loose with Filemaker they are just as likely to mess it up - just ask your average user to describe Normalisation...
My company supports over 500 organisations using our systems developed using MSAccess in front of SQL Server or SQL Express. We have not had a single days downtime in more than 12 years.
There are sites with many milliosn of records on the systems and scores or even hundreds of concurrent users. In parallel we also have remote users accessing the same backends through asp or .net based online applications.
It all works extremely well.
Please stop talking about Access unless you too have developed enterprise scale applications using it.
Regards
Jim Moores

Click to expand...

I have to agree with most of what's said here, although since this is your first and only post in the forums, I think you may have just been looking for a way to plug your company. I've been, among other things, a database consultant for many years and I can tell you that a great many clients come to me after they attempt to build their own database using Access or similar tools. Then they pay me to clean up their mess. In some cases, it would have been cheaper to hire me to build what they wanted from scratch.

As I frequently tell my clients about building databases, editing the Windows Registry, or other such things: "Kids, don't try this at home!"

As a side note, you DO realize this thread is 2 years old, right?

Microsoft Access

I did realise the thread was two years old but unfortunately searches still bring it up as "current" because of course for all intents and purposes it is.

I was simply looking for up-to-date advice with Access on MAC as, despite having 500 customers, I have just encountered the first one who insists on a mix of PC and MAC.

I make no attempt to promote my company to the MAC community and you may have noticed I did not specify my company name.

Perhaps we should ask the forum mediator to take off such old posts that are also quite inaccurate, but clearly anyone can say anything and there does not have to be any basis in fact.

Going back the the main point I too have undertaken many jobs re-wrting, or indeed replacing, systems written by "consultants" in Access, FoxPro, Approach, Filemaker... You are absolutely right, and we advise clients as strongly as possible to think carefully before developing a system themselves. It never works and whichever RDBMS you use you need to know what you are doing.

Come back Dataease...

jimmoores said:

but clearly anyone can say anything and there does not have to be any basis in fact.

Click to expand...

I guess thats why it's called the MacRoumors forum and not the MacFacts forum

I agree with Jim. People who call Microsoft Access a toy do not know what they are talking about. I work with Access every day and maintain a database consisting of thousands of records. This DB also is accessed by users via a front end website running asp. MS Access is a powerful tool for people that know how to use it properly. Secondly why a person fluent in Access and who has used it for years developing applications would want (or need) to start learning from scratch in Filemaker to achieve the same proficiency is beyond my understanding, and if anyone calling themselves a professional does this simply to use a Mac instead of a PC then they are not very professional in my opinion, considering how inexpensive decent PCs are. I have a dedicated PC running windows XP Pro specifically for MS Access, but also run it on the road on my Intel 2.5 Macbook Pro when needed (i.e. when travelling). I still do all layout, prepress (Adobe CS), email and office apps on the mac, but Access is simply one of those applications which necessitates a PC with Windows. Any Mac-inclined Access professional worth his salt knows and accepts this.

cueboyzn said:

People who call Microsoft Access a toy do not know what they are talking about.

Click to expand...

Since I originally made the toy comment, let me clarify.

It should be clear that from my comment that I made the common mistake of referring to JET as Access. I reiterate, as a database JET (formerly the default database used by Access, Outlook, etc..) is a toy which doesn't scale well at all and should at all costs be avoided. I've run into its limitations so many times that I have come to hate it.

That said, Access is a a great tool for generating front-ends and creating reports etc... but that is not what I was talking about. I was merely referring to the back end stuff that most existing Access data is stored in.

This is not meant as a personal attack, but if you think that databases with thousands of records are big, you are the one that doesn't seem that experienced. I work with a SQL database in a small manufacturing environment where a single test generates thousands of records in a table and those databases are toys. Imagine dealing with the data generated at the LHC or the inventory system at Amazon/Wal-Mart/Costco, etc...!

B

MSAccess

People, can we end this by saying JET is NOT a robust, enterprise database engine. In saying that I have implemented systems for many, many users with an Access backend, in multi user environments, and we have never lost any data - it's all about controlling access to data, and managing security and concurrency, programatically

I referred to millions of records, not thousands.

SQL Server is a much better backend RDBMS and with SQL Express you can use it free of charge with your Access frontend. MySQL is another excellent alternative and is likewise free.

Thank you.

balamw said:

This is not meant as a personal attack, but if you think that databases with thousands of records are big, you are the one that doesn't seem that experienced. I work with a SQL database in a small manufacturing environment where a single test generates thousands of records in a table and those databases are toys. Imagine dealing with the data generated at the LHC or the inventory system at Amazon/Wal-Mart/Costco, etc...!

B

Click to expand...

Ok, maybe I wasn't being clear, when I said thousands of records, I meant not as in one or two thousand, but more in the region of 50 thousand. Granted, this is still small compared to the organizations you mention at the end of the paragraph, but for the purposes of the databases I maintain, Access is the tool of preference because the reporting features are in my experience superior to some other DB reporting tools. The main point I was making in my post, is that people who are experienced and proficient with MS Access but who, given the choice, would prefer to use a Mac, simply have to accept that a PC is a necessary tool. I love my Macs and if Access was available for mac with the full functionality available as on the Windows version, I would probably not use another PC again. However, even if MBU did release a Mac version I think for it to reach a viable level of maturity and stability as an application would (judging from having used the last 3 versions of MS Office for Mac) take 3-4 re-releases of the product.

cueboyzn said:

However, even if MBU did release a Mac version I think for it to reach a viable level of maturity and stability as an application would (judging from having used the last 3 versions of MS Office for Mac) take 3-4 re-releases of the product.

Click to expand...

The simple most easiest to solution is to get VMware or Parallels, set up a virtual machine with Windows XP and install Office Pro Windows.

Now you will have a way to view, edit, etc. Microsoft Access files.

If you decide to wait for Access on the Mac, you will be waiting a very long time.

Use Data Access Page

They are extremely easy to create. Create just as if you are making a new table/query/report. When you're finished just click publish and it gives you a url. You can view and edit the information through your web browser. For more information, see the help topics under data access page.

Hope this helps.

microsoft access....

hello,I'm Rachel, my professor installed a mac office tools in my macbook but still the other applications didnt work.. only the excel thing is working.. i need access we are using database in our computer engineering subject..anybody would kindly help me please?