Ms Office Tune Up

May 01

Exportable File Types in Access 2007

Just as you can import information from other files and pop it in your database, you can also take the existing information and ship it out to another format. You’ll most often undertake this step to let some other person or program get their hands on your information without needing to go through Access.

When exporting your data, you can use all the same formats that you can use in an import operation, plus a few more. Here’s a rundown of the most popular choices:

Access. Transfers the Access table (or a different type of object) to another Access database file. This feature isn’t as powerful as importing Access objects, because you’re limited to one object at a time. For that reason, people don’t use it as often.
Excel. Puts the data into the cells of an Excel worksheet. Perfect if you want to use Excel’s tools to analyze a sales trend or plot a profit chart.
Word. Puts the data into a Word document, separating each column with tabs and each line with a hard return. This format leaves a lot to be desired, because it’s difficult to rearrange the data after the fact in Word. (A nicer export feature would put the report data into a Word table, which would make it far easier to work with.)
PDF or XPS. Creates a print-ready PDF file with the exact formatting and layout you’d see if you sent the table to your printer. Unlike Excel or Word documents, you can’t edit a PDF fileyou’re limited to reviewing the report and printing it out.

Note: The PDF or XPS option appears only if you’ve installed a free add-in for Office. Section 8.2.3 describes how to get it.
HTML Document. Creates a web-ready HTML Web page that you can post to a Web site or a company intranet. The HTML format that Access generates looks remarkably like your real, printed report.
Text File. Dumps the data into a plain text file, with tabs and spaces used to arrange the data. You lose colors, fonts, borders, and other formatting details. This format isn’t very usefulthink of it as a last resort to transfer data to another program if none of the other export options work.
XML File. Saves the data in a text .xml file, without any formatting. This option makes sense if you’re using some sort of automated program that can read the exported XML file and process the data.