A Microsoft Access alternative: your database as a web app

When Access starts to feel tight

• The database only works on the Windows PC in the office. Anyone on a Mac, or working from home, can't open it.
• The file sits in a shared folder: with three people in it, it slows down, and every now and then it needs "Compact and Repair".
• Whoever built the forms and macros has left, and every change is a gamble.
• To check something from a phone, someone takes a photo of the screen.

What it becomes

The tables move to a MySQL or MariaDB database, with the same relationships. The forms become pages in the browser, and the reports become PDFs ready to print or send. Queries and macros become functions of the app, written so that whoever comes next can read them.

Everyone logs in with their own account, and several people work on the same data without locking a file. It runs on Windows, Mac and phones; if needed, it installs on the phone as a PWA.

How the switch works

1. I open the database and write down what it really does: tables, relationships, forms, queries and macros, including the rules nobody remembers any more. This analysis is free.
2. I build a prototype of the forms you use every day, for the people who use them to try.
3. I write the script that imports the data from Access. Meanwhile you keep working as usual.
4. On switch-over day I run the import once more and Access becomes an archive.

I did the same for my own CRM, starting from a spreadsheet with 18 sheets: the script runs as many times as needed, and the old file can still be opened. The full steps are in Process.

When to keep Access

If one person uses the database, on the same PC, and it does its job, keep it. Rebuilding makes sense when the file serves several people in several places, or when nobody knows how to change it any more.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need Access to show you the database?

No. I read .mdb and .accdb files without having Access installed, so you can send me the file as it is.

Is Microsoft Access obsolete?

Access for Windows is still sold as part of Office. Access web apps, on the other hand, were shut down by Microsoft in 2018. The limit people hit every day is a different one: Access lives on a Windows PC, there is no Mac version, and with several people on the same file over the network it gets fragile.

Can we keep using Access while you build the new app?

Yes. Access stays in use until switch-over day. The import script can run again without creating duplicates, so the last import happens that morning, with that day's data.

Where does the new app run?

On your own server if you have one, or on a server I set up and look after. It opens in any browser, in the office or on the road.

Read more

• The service: Rebuilding old software
• Work of this kind: CRM gokalex
• More pages like this: Moving off spreadsheets and old software