How to Open MDB File Free?

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Are you facing problems in opening and accessing data of the MS Access Database MDB file? We have the best possible solutions that will fade away all your worries about losing MDB file data. Let’s know more about MDB files first before moving to the methods to open and access MDB files.

All About MDB File:

MDB file is a default data file generated by MS Access 2003 and earlier versions which stands for Microsoft Database. The new file format is ACCDB which is generated by the new version of MS Access. These file formats contain complete database queries, tables, functions, etc. that can be linked with other file formats and store data from files like HTML and XML and applications such as SharePoint and Excel.

You might also come across another file format named LDB. It is a temporary lock file created by MS Access alongside a shared database.

Using MS Excel to open MDB files is one of the common solutions opted for by many MS Access users who face difficulty in opening MDB files when MS Access stops working. You can simply import the Access Database file in MS Excel which gets saved to spreadsheet format.

Steps to import MDB data to MS Excel:

Step 1: Start MS Excel

Step 2: Look for the Data tab on the main ribbon.

Step 3: Select the Access Data icon in the Get External Data section.

Step 4: Browse for MDB file and click Open, select the table from the database which you desire to add in Excel, and click OK.

Yes, the Notepad application has all the abilities to open any type of text file documents and files. If the MDB file content is text, then you can easily use the application to open the MDB file.

Microsoft Visual Studio is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) provided by Microsoft to develop various computer applications like webpages, web services, web applications, etc. It is mainly used by developers to code in computer languages such as C, C++, Python, javascript, and many more. This tool enables users to connect to a wide range of databases. One such type of database it supports is Microsoft Access. You can connect to an Access database from Visual Studio by either providing the connection details or by using the Access database file (.accdb file or .mdb file). And that is what we are looking for after all. So, go ahead and give it a try.

MS Access may be responsible for creating the MDB file that you are trying to open. It is not the only tool that can read this file format. So, you need to switch to other tools that are specifically designed or programmed to view MDB files. We checked and found various such tools that you can use, they are:

• Apache OpenOffice Base
  It is a database management system and provides all the functionalities required to create, manage and operate a database. You can use this application in absence of MS Access to open a .mdb file.
• Oxygen Professional Base
  Similar to MS Office, Oxygen Professional Base provides database manipulation and management functions. Oxygen Professional Base has its origins in open-source OpenOffice. It can be used to open the MDB file.
• LibreOffice
  LibreOffice is another software that is compatible with Microsoft Office and is open source. You can use this tool to view the contents of your MDB file and further edit or update it as well.
• KEXI

KEXI is an open-source program that enables developers to create visual database applications. It has been considered one of the competitors of MS Access. KEXI can be installed on a Windows as well as Linux operating system.

Using Excel one can view the content in a spreadsheet of MDB files. You have only access to see all the data contained within it and even export it as a spreadsheet or comma-separated text file. This is a quick and easy way to see MDB data.

You can search on the Internet for online tools and websites that can be used to open an MDB file and view its contents. There are many such online portals available. You will not need to download or install any application on your machine. You just need to look for an online MDB viewer tool and then you can upload your MDB file on the web page to view its contents. It is to be noted that this will only help you in viewing the contents of the file and not editing or updating it. But, every time you would require viewing the contents, you will have to go online and upload the MDB file. Also, you need to be cautious about the security of the MDB data.

Microsoft Access is a database tool and the MDB file is a database file. So, you can use other database tools to open MDB files as well. After all, it is a database format file containing rows and columns. There is a wide range of tools that may be created to perform various database functions. See if you have any such database tools already installed on your machine and try to open the .mdb file using them.

Although the manual methods work successfully to open MDB files, you can still fail to open the MDB file. There might be chances that your MDB file is corrupt. So, to fix the issue you must opt for a professional solution that deals in recovering MDB file data hassle-free. We suggest the most trusted and recommended third-party solution i.e. Kernel for Access Database Repair. The Access database repair software retrieves complete MDB and ACCDB files from corrupt databases and helps to restore the original structure of the data securely.

Follow the steps mentioned below for opening and recovering MDB files from damaged databases:
Step 1: Simply, download, install and launch Kernel for Access Database Recovery and select the corrupted file that you wish to repair and recover. Then, click Open.

Step 2: Choose the recovery mode and click the Repair button to move ahead.

Step 3: View and analyze the completely recovered MDB file content, click the Save button once done.

Step 4: Choose a saving location and click Save within the Save As window.

• It instantly recovers all MDB and ACCDB files irrespective of the level of corruption.
• The structure and integrity of the content are well maintained throughout.
• It provides users with 2 scanning modes- Standard and Template, depending upon the density of corruption.
• The contents of the database are previewed for the users.
• There is no limitation to the size of the files.
• The software is supported throughout all versions of MS Access as well as all Windows operating systems.

Conclusion:

MDB file is an important database for MS Access users, whose corruption could affect your productivity badly. Hence, we strongly advise you to take the help of the third-party tool if you’re facing serious corruption issues with your MDB file. It is one of the best and the most reliable solutions that will surely help you to prevent Access database corruptions and recover complete data at ease.