What is the easiest way to edit an Access database online?

Question

**Problem:**In our office we have an Access customer database that is about 20MB big. People mostly use it from within the office's LAN, but some other team members are external and they currently have the following workflow:- Ask somebody in the office to upload the file to an FTP server- Tell others to stop making changes in the database- Download the database, commit changes- Upload it to the FTP server and tell the office that it's usable again**Question:**What is the easiest way to allow those people to make changes to that database without needing to resort to the methods above?There should be no need for real "live" and collaborative editing, but the process should be fairly easy to learn for "normal" PC users and involve as little effort as possible for me on the developer/sysadmin side.

Answer 1

Hello Dianna, In a multi-user environment it is always best to split the database. 20 MB is not a big database at all. Place the back end on the server and you can distribute individual front ends for each user. That will work for those connected to the LAN.

Sharing a live Access database externally is a whole different obstacle which Access was not meant to do.

The only solution I can think of would be setting up a remote desktop computer on the LAN and giving the external users a way to log in. Not simple or perfect and probably requires some IT support.

Not sure if that helps. We can set up a session to review if you would like to.

Jeff