What is a linked table in Access, and where is the data?
You open an Access database, the table you need is right there in the list, and it is empty, or it won’t open at all. A linked table in Access is the usual reason: the table is only an address, and the rows are somewhere else.
Short answer
A linked table is a table that Access shows as part of a database but doesn’t store in it. The file keeps the address of the real table, in another Access file, a spreadsheet, a SharePoint list or a database server, and fetches the rows from there when it can reach it. If you were sent only the file with the links, the data isn’t in it: ask for the file or the access the link points to.
Get Keyfield Opens .accdb and .mdb files. Viewing is free, with no account.
Why databases use links
The most common reason is a split database. One file, the back end, holds only the tables and sits on a shared drive. Each person gets their own copy of a second file, the front end, with the forms, reports and queries, and links to the back-end tables. Everyone works on the same data without passing one big file around. Other databases link to data that lives elsewhere already: an Excel sheet, a SharePoint list, or a SQL Server through ODBC.
The catch is that the front end is the file people tend to email. It opens, it lists the tables, and every linked one is a shell.
How to tell a table is linked
- In Access on a PC, a linked table has an arrow on its icon in the navigation pane, and Linked Table Manager lists every link with its source.
- In Keyfield, the table list marks it LINKED. Tap it and you get a screen headed “Linked, not stored here” that names what it points to: the file path or network share, the table’s name in that file, and the kind of link (another Access database, or ODBC for a server).
A path such as Z:\Shared\Sales_be.accdb or \\server\data\… tells you the back end was on a mapped drive or a network share at the office. Your phone can’t see either, so there is nothing to show.
How to get at the data
- Ask for the back-end file. If the link points to an Access file, that file has the rows. Open it on its own and the table is one of its tables; Keyfield even names the table to look for.
- Ask for a copy with local tables. In Access, right-click a linked table and choose Convert to Local Table; the rows are copied into the front end, and that copy can travel.
- For a server link (ODBC), the data is in the server, not in any file. You need access to that system, or someone to export the table for you. Keyfield reads files on your phone and doesn’t connect to servers.
What still works with only the front end
Quite a lot. The local tables in the file open as normal, the saved queries are all readable as SQL (how to read them), and the relationships and field types show how the database fits together. That is often enough to find out which file you actually need to ask for.
For the other reasons a database won’t open, see five reasons an Access database won’t open on your phone.
See where every table really lives
Keyfield marks linked tables, shows where each one points and opens every table that is in the file. Free, read-only, offline.
