Is there a way to automate the conversion of old Access databases (.MDB files) to the newer .ACCDB format?

Question

I have a couple hundred old Access databases, in the old .MDB file format. I'm not sure which version of Access they were created in. My ultimate goal is to make them usable to someone who has Access 2013. Access 2013 cannot open the .MDB files at all, but Access 2007 (which I have) can. Upon opening one in Access 2007, the "Database Enhancement" tool pops up and allows you to save the .MDB as an Access 2007 (.ACCDB) file, which Access 2013 can also open. I've done this successfully with a few of the .MDBs.

My question is, is it possible to automate this process?

I've looked around and as far as I know, the only way to convert an .MDB to an .ACCDB is the way I've done it, opening each file manually with Access 2007. Despite removing the capability to read .MDBs from the 2013 version, Microsoft has never put out a conversion utility or anything for people who may have data stuck in old .MDBs.

Answer 1

Yea, I wasn't able to find a converter either. If it pops up on opening every time and the popup is simple commands/buttons(like yes/no) to convert, I think I have a solution, albeit convoluted.

Open all the mdb's with a .bat with this from here.

@echo off

for %%v in ("C:\Users\username\Desktop\Test\*.mdb") do start "" "%%~v"

And accept appropriately, the popups with this AutoIt script

The script was posted in 2013 but I got a response from the OP yesterday. I tested this with notepad with the .ini file line window2=Notepad|&Save|&Save. So when I close a notepad file that I have made changes to it automatically picks the 'Save' option. I can post the script and .ini file but that's about 150 lines.

Edit: You may want to add a timeout in the .bat so you're not opening all of them together, I think this will work.

for %%v in ("C:\Users\username\Desktop\Test\*.mdb") do (start "" "%%~v" & timeout /t 30)

There is this article where they say it might be better to import them rather than convert, so you still have the original mdb in case something happens in conversion.