Multi-Users in Access 2016

Question

I am just checking to see if multiple people can work in Access 2016 at the same time.  I have 1 database and there is User Acceptance testing going on while I am still doing development. My concern is that while UA is going on and they are updating the tables, that I am developing against and may be updating the tables at the same time, but different records in the table.  If they close the db and then I get out an hour later, and the same tables that I was going against for Unit testing would not have the data they have, could I overwrite what they have already done?  Does Access 2016 have the ability to handle what is written or updated from a different thread being okay, since we are using different records on the same table.  Just checking.

Answer 1

Access is fully multi-user out of the box. Collisions are normal and very rare.

> they are updating the tables, that I am developing against
You need a development discipline. Among many things that means you have a Dev version of the FE and BE, and you deploy a new version only after others have tested it. You then take down the app, upgrade the BE with the new changes, and deploy a new FE to the users.

---

-Tom. Microsoft Access MVP

Answer 2

Yes, it is possible for multiple concurrent users to update an Access database. I would limit it to a handful since Access is susceptible to corruption when there is excessive usage in a network environment - one of the reasons why a database on the network should be compacted frequently.

By default Access does provide page level locking so that users cannot update a certain number of rows at the same time. The database can also be set up for row level locking if you are encountering too many locking issues. The below article should help:

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140728120923-4665957-yes-microsoft-access-works-in-a-multi-user-environment

---

Paul ~~~~ Microsoft MVP (Visual Basic)

Answer 3

Thank you for your response.  I appreciate it.

Answer 4

Thank you for your response.  I appreciate it.

Answer 5

If they close the db and then I get out an hour later, and the same tables that I was going against for Unit testing would not have the data they have, could I overwrite what they have already done?  Does Access 2016 have the ability to handle what is written or updated from a different thread being okay, since we are using different records on the same table.  Just checking.

Hi ballj_351,

Do you realize that the Development-BE is different from the users-BE?

Development-BE only has "test" data, per definiton. From time to time you can make a fresh copy of the users-BE to use as Development-BE.

Imb.