Use one Access Front End for search database

Question

I know if you plan to have an Access DB to support multiple users you should ideally deploy front end on each users PC. I have created a launcher in excel to do this.

However, some users do not have permission to copy files from the shared drive where the front end is stored, not even via file explorer. The database is just a search tool. No data is modified but Front End does have queries and VB.

In a scenario like this can I just have everyone use the same Front End on the Shared drive? What are the things that make it crash? Would a compiled version avoid problems? It’s Access 2010.

If they don't have permission to copy the file, how can they launch it? — Andre
They go to FE on shared drive and open file from there which works. — Mark E
If they can open the file, they have read access. If they have read access, they can copy the file (except perhaps if it's in use by other users). What wizardry prevents the copy? — Andre
Interesting. I did not realise read permission allowed copy. This particular user can run it from shared drive but if they go to file explorer they can't copy it to their "My Documents" directory? — Mark E
My guess would be on a sharing/locking violation. They should try again if nobody uses the frontend (= there is no .laccdb alongside the .accdb). -- P.S. If it isn't clear already, I'm a firm member of the "each user must have their own local frontend" camp. — Andre

Brad Brad · Accepted Answer · 2018-04-26T16:15:34

Actually, Access DBs are designed with multiple users accessing the file over a shared drive at a time. If you have a reasonably small number of users, I wouldn't worry about it.

Use one Access Front End for search database

1 Answers