How to link dBASE tables to Access tables.
Q: Mark Kraus writes: “I have data on approximately 3,000 clients in a table developed in dBase IV. I am trying to load the data into an Access 2002 table and then use the Access table in an application I’m developing in Access. I have tried linking as the dBase table is still in use, importing, converting the dBase table to ASCII text, creating an Excel spreadsheet and linking Access to the spreadsheet, and cut and paste from the linked table into the new Access table. Ultimately I would like to create a primary key to develop relationships with other Access tables
A: If you need to have updated data available in Access as the dBASE database is modified, you will need to link to the dBASE tables you need to work with. You can link directly to .dbf files (no need to go through text files or Excel worksheets). Just select File|Get External Data|Link Tables, and select dBASE IV in the Files of Type drop-down list in the Link dialog. Then, use the linked dBASE table as the source for various queries, as needed. You can alias the dBASE field names in the queries to match the names of Access table fields, to make it easier to link to Access tables.
It would be easiest to use a unique ID field from the dBASE database, if there is one. If not, you might have to append data from the linked dBASE table to an Access table with an AutoNumber field. Then you would have to run an update query from time to time to update the data, which is inconvenient.
