MS Access DB Instance getting corrupted when put on shared server

Question

I am using MS Access 365, my DB instance is getting corrupted whenever I put it on shared drive. Is there some sort of accessibility/privilege change i need to do for it to work. I want to allow multiple users to access and make changes to the DB, it has a lot of forms.

Answer 1

While Access databases are capable of working for multiple concurrent users from a shared drive, this has been known to cause corruption.

Corruption in shared Access databases has been known to be caused by large numbers of users modifying the database concurrently. If possible, limit the numbers of users modifying the data simultaneously.

Another cause of corruption in multi-user Access databases are users not properly closing the database when finished. Generally, this is hard for a user to do on purpose. However, things like a computer suddenly powering off or restarting, losing its network connection, etc, can leave the database in a bad state.

Splitting your Access database into two parts is said to defend against corruption. Keep the data in one database and create a new database for the forms and reports that connect to first database.

As mentioned Access is capable of multi-user databases, but that was not its true design. Depending on the usage, you might want to move to a more capable database. Microsoft SQL Server is a true multi-user, robust database. Microsoft offers a free version called SQL Server Express. The free version is very capable. Additionally, you can import your Access database directly into it. There are plenty of other free and paid databases out there, but for ease of migration, SQL Server Express is probably the best choice.