Software developers, data architects and power users have expressed a need to run Microsoft Access on their Mac without partitioning their hard drives or restarting.

Firstly, if you fall into this category, Parallels Desktop for Mac can assist you with developing application software without reformatting or rebooting your machine. As seen below:

Access 2016 in Win10 in Parallels Desktop

Secondly, users can create tables, queries, forms, and reports that connect their projects together with macros. Even more advanced users utilize Visual Basic for apps to write advanced data manipulation and user control solutions.

Here at Parallels, we’re excited whenever our customers share with us the incredible projects they produce and how Parallels Desktop has helped them get work done faster!

Check out how some of our users are using virtualization for Microsoft Access:

Microsoft Access is a database management system (DBMS) from Microsoft that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. It is a member of the Microsoft Office suite of applications, included in the Professional and higher editions or sold separately.

Juan Becker of New York – “I was given a Mac when coming onto the team at a new job and as a life-long Microsoft guy I was missing the most important application for my position: Microsoft Access. I needed it and that was the issue but had no idea how to get it on my Mac or if it would even work.

I found Parallels as a solution for running Microsoft Access through the Parallels forums and saw other users had success. There are specific macros such as ActiveX data objects that work within MS Access that I need for my position and Parallels was and is so easy to use, which makes me a user for life. I additionally ended up buying Parallels Access for remotely connecting to my Mac or Windows through my tablet and phone, which allows me to travel for work without my laptop.

That, along with all of the other options and tools that Parallels offers, was a no-brainer, and like I said before, I was instantly sold and will remain a user for life!”

Jason Cooper of Indiana – “I am running a fairly large Microsoft Access database (roughly 60 MB), and as a longtime Boot Camp user, I quickly found myself needing to avoid restarting my machine every time I wanted to switch operating systems in order to speed up my work productivity.

The reputation of Parallels Desktop is what sold me three years ago. The first time I ran one of my queries through Parallels, it processed very quickly, in around five seconds.

I’m the lead webmaster and director of information security for my company, so finding a solution for Microsoft Access was a necessity. Additionally, I plan to do multi-platform software testing for work and found that Microsoft Access runs through Parallels exactly as if I were running it on a PC.”

Nevertheless, Parallels Desktop is an easy and cost-effective solution to run Microsoft Access on your Mac. It provides our customers and their employees with the right tools, which effectively allows our customers to be more productive in a virtual world. Try running Windows programs on your Mac without restarting for 14 days here FREE: Try Now!

Need Microsoft Windows operating system to get started with Microsoft Access? Buy directly below:

OpenOffice.org (OOo) is able to read and write from awide variety of databases, as long as they support one ofthe standard interface specifications such as ODBC or JDBC.Fortunately, Microsoft Access (MS-Access) supports ODBC.This HOW-TO takes you step by step through the process oflinking OOo to MS-Access using ODBC.

The process has three simple steps:

1. Create an ODBC Data Source for each databaseyou want to use (you only need to do this once perdatabase)

2. Create an ODBC Data Source withinOpenOffice.org for each database (you only need to do thisonce)

3. Enjoy using your MS-Access databases in OOo!

Note: if you can't read a screenshot, click on it to open a largerversion in a new browser window

Creating an ODBC Data Source for the MS-Accessdatabase

Within MS-Windows, choose Start -> Settings ->Control Panel and double-click the ODBC DataSources icon

to run the ODBC Data Source Administrator:

Microsoft Access For Mac Equivalent

Click on the Add button to display theCreate New Data Source dialogue box:

Microsoft Access For Mac Equivalent To 1

Select the Microsoft Access Driver and pressthe Finish button. This will display theODBC Microsoft Access Setup dialogue box:

Microsoft Access For Mac Equivalent 10

Give the new data source a name (e.g. the same name asyour MS-Access database) and a description. Use theSelect button to select your MS-Accessdatabase file (*.dbf) and press OK.

You should now see the ODBC Data Source you have createdlisted in the ODBC Data Source Administrator:

Click OK to close the Administrator.Note that every database you want to use in OOo will needto have its own ODBC Data Source defined here.

Creating a Data Source within OOo

From within an OOo application, select Tools -> DataSources... You will notice that OOo comes with onepre-installed Data Source called Bibliography.Ignore this, and press the New Data Sourcebutton

Select DatabaseTypeODBC, and press the select button[...] and choose the ODBC Data Source youhave just created. Give it a name, press theApply button, and pressOK to close the Data Source Administrationtool.

Mac Equivalent Of Microsoft Access

Using the Data Source within OOo

There are other FAQs which describe using the databasefeatures within OOo. However, as a quick preview, selectView -> Data Sources (or pressF4). You are now ready to use yourMS-Access database within OOo applications:

Ms Access For Apple