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Set options for a shared Access database (MDB)

Note  The information in this topic applies only to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb).

1. On the Tools menu, click Options.
2. Click the Advanced tab.
3. Do one or more of the following:

   Specify whether a Microsoft Access database opens in shared or exclusive mode by default

   • Under Default open mode, do one of the following:

     If you want others to be able to open the Microsoft Access database at the same time you have it open, click Shared.

     If you want sole access to the Access database when you have it open, click Exclusive.

   Notes

   • Even if you have set the default open mode to Shared, you can temporarily override this setting at the time you open an Access database.
   • If you set up security in your multiuser environment, you can help protect from users opening an Access database exclusively by denying them Open Exclusive permission for the database.

   Specify update retry and refresh interval settings

   • Do one or more of the following:

     To set the interval after which Microsoft Access automatically tries to save a changed record that is locked by another user, type the number of milliseconds in the Update retry interval box. Valid values are 0 through 1,000.

     To set the number of times Microsoft Access tries to save a changed record that is locked by another user, type a number in the Number of update retries box. Valid values are 0 through 10.

     To set the interval after which Microsoft Access automatically refreshes records that you're accessing using ODBC, type the number of seconds in the ODBC refresh interval box. Valid values are 1 through 32,766.

     To specify how often data is automatically updated, type the number of seconds in the Refresh interval box. Valid values are 1 through 32,766 seconds. For example, if you type 120, the data is updated every 2 minutes. This setting takes effect only if the database is shared on a network.

   Specify the record locking strategy

   When a user edits a record, Microsoft Access can automatically prevent others from changing that record until the user has finished editing it. Giving one user exclusive access to a record is called locking.

   • Under Default record locking, do one of the following:

     To prevent locking of records while you edit them, click No locks.

     To lock all records in the form or datasheet (and the underlying tables) while you edit them, click All records.

     To lock only the record you're editing, click Edited record.

   Specify record-level or page-level locking

   • Do one of the following:

     To make record-level locking the new default setting for the current Microsoft Access database, select the Open databases using record-level locking check box.

     To make page-level locking the new default setting for the current Access database, clear the Open databases using record-level locking check box.

   This setting takes effect the next time you open the Access database, but you must use the Open command on the File menu rather than the list of most recently used files at the end of the File menu.