9

I have two Access databases that I need to compare but I don't know how I can do this.

I'm trying to compare the differences between both the structure and content (possibly limiting the comparison to tables and queries). Is this possible?

3 Answers 3

3

Below are three free products that might help.

Free Database Compare 2.0 :

The StarInix Database Compare application will allow you to compare the structure of two databases and display all the differences between them. Supported databases include: SQL Server (All Editions), MySQL and Access databases. You can compare two different databases, like access and SQL 2000. It will also allow you to create snapshots of a database and compare a live database to an snapshot. A database structure viewer is included.

Compare'EM Lite

A very simple to use utility to analyze a pair of related Microsoft Access databases, determine what has changed from one to the other, and generate VBA code to propagate those changes.

Total Access Analyzer

Total Access Analyzer examines all your database objects to provide extensive documentation, cross-reference, and application and flow diagrams, with over 350 presentation-quality reports.

EDIT : Please remember that this answer dates from 2009 before downvoting it.

4
  • 1
    Total Access Analyzer did not used to be free. Is that changed now? Dec 19, 2009 at 4:17
  • @David: You're right - this is an error. Only a demo is available and the limitations aren't well explained, but I suspect it doesn't do much.
    – harrymc
    Dec 19, 2009 at 7:05
  • 2
    CompareEm Lite sounded awesome, but it sucks. More than one column involved in a relation? Chokes. Also, good luck figuring out how to enter your password to use it.
    – tbone
    May 28, 2012 at 23:17
  • 2
    Neither Free Database Compare 2.0 or Compare'EM Lite allow you to compare .accdb files. They are both apparently hardcoded for .mdb files.
    – HK1
    Jan 15, 2014 at 14:52
6

Quite late but: with Office 2013 Professional Plus or Office 365 ProPlus, Microsoft now offers a Database compare tool.


Edit:
One could also use the msaccess-vcs-integration add-in to export everything to text, then use any text comparison tool, or a versioning tool like Git.

3
  • Sadly, it gives very imcomplete information. It doesn't show specific differences, except for queries, only that the object was changed. Oct 23, 2021 at 4:47
  • @ivan_pozdeev : see edit
    – iDevlop
    Oct 23, 2021 at 21:37
  • Okay, the vcs integration add-in is much better Oct 24, 2021 at 0:17
1

Try the free version of AccDBMerge.

Be aware of the following restrictions though:

AccdbMerge Free provides basic data diff and merge facilities with the following limitations:

  • both tables must have compatible primary keys,
  • no more than 50 fields in each table,
  • no multivalue/attachment/binary fields.

Pro version does not have these limitations. Also, it allows to compare data between files with different security options.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .