About handling concurrent updates (ADP)

Microsoft Office Access 2003

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About handling concurrent updates (ADP)

Note  The information in this topic applies only to a Microsoft Access project (.adp).

In a multiuser environment, more than one person might be working with the same record at the same time. Because other people can change or even delete the same data that you're trying to edit, you might occasionally encounter data conflicts with others as they work. A Microsoft Access project, by default, uses a technique called optimistic record locking to handle record contention.

If you modify a record, and someone updates that record before you save it, Access displays a message box and warns you that if you save the record, you will overwrite the changes that the other user has made. You can do one of the following:

  • Press Save Record to save the record and overwrite the other user's changes.
  • Press Copy to Clipboard to first examine what the other user has entered as changes so that you can reconcile them with your current edits.
  • Press Drop Changes to ignore your changes and accept the other user's changes.

Because other users may add, modify, or delete records that you are accessing, you should periodically refresh the display of data in Datasheet or Form view by using the Refresh command (Records menu) to re-query and see up-to-date data.