# Access 2010: Saving a database
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [September 5, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803 "2018-09-05T16:02:33Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/1 "2018-09-05T16:02:33Z")
Continuing with the abomination known as Access 2010…
The issue is this: I like to delete previous tables before importing new ones. Access 2010 will not let me delete tables. The only solution is to delete the database and create a new one from a Blank page. This worked before – at least it seemed to. So I’ve just opened a blank page and imported two files. I go to save the database, and I have to choose one of the files. When I try to save it, it will only let me save it as a table and not as a database.
So how to I save this?
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### Author:  [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/2 "2018-09-05T16:45:07Z")
Why won’t Access 2010 let you delete tables? Until last year, I was regularly using 2010 and don’t recall having any trouble deleting tables. A quick search of tutorials online seems to indicate that you can in fact do that in 2010, generally, so it seems like there’s something else going on that’s preventing the deletion. I don’t think it’s just a feature of Access 2010.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/3 "2018-09-05T16:58:23Z")
> [@batsto](#):
>
> Why won’t Access 2010 let you delete tables?
No idea. I right-click on the table, and Delete is greyed out. Also, the X on the tool bar is greyed out.
> [@batsto](#):
>
> I don’t think it’s just a feature of Access 2010.
Maybe it is, like the way it will not let you define output field widths. (But that’s the other thread.)
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/4 "2018-09-05T17:26:36Z")
**Johnny** try this link.
[https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/7dfcab8a-909f-4e64-a46e-4ce20ad145c1/cannot-delete-a-table-in-access-2010?forum=accessdev](https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/7dfcab8a-909f-4e64-a46e-4ce20ad145c1/cannot-delete-a-table-in-access-2010?forum=accessdev)
See the post from “Access Volunteer” about four or five posts down. He recommends clearing and resetting the admin password for the database.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/5 "2018-09-05T17:54:14Z")
> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> **Johnny** try this link.
>
> [https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/7dfcab8a-909f-4e64-a46e-4ce20ad145c1/cannot-delete-a-table-in-access-2010?forum=accessdev](https://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/office/en-US/7dfcab8a-909f-4e64-a46e-4ce20ad145c1/cannot-delete-a-table-in-access-2010?forum=accessdev)
>
> See the post from “Access Volunteer” about four or five posts down. He recommends clearing and resetting the admin password for the database.
**Open the database with your username and password (assuming you have administrator security).**
I just click on the icon at the taskbar. It never asks me for a username or password. The rest of the post is written in Greek.
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### Author:  [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/6 "2018-09-05T18:02:56Z")
There are several possible reasons why it is greyed out. Your privilege level may not allow for deletion, or the tables in question may be shared by other users and programs. The fact that the command is there proves it can be done, but the fact that it is greyed out probably indicates that there is a good reason for you not to do it, at least until you do something else first.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/7 "2018-09-05T19:45:59Z")
OK, in Access 2003 all I had to do to save a database is click the Save or the Save As icon on the toolbar. In 2010, I have to click on File and Save Database As. I wish I could slap whoever came up with this POS. :mad:
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/8 "2018-09-05T19:51:21Z")
If you have the table open in another tab (e.g. in table view or design view, it won’t let you delete it from the list on the left.
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/9 "2018-09-05T19:55:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> **Open the database with your username and password (assuming you have administrator security).**
>
> I just click on the icon at the taskbar. It never asks me for a username or password. The rest of the post is written in Greek.
Sorry… yeah like **Jasmine** says, there is some permission issue somewhere that is disabling that menu option. Clearing and resetting the admin password on the database is apparently one way to resolve that permission issue. But if you are not using a password to open the database, then that’s not it, and must be some other permission issue that’s blocking it.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 5, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/10 "2018-09-05T20:09:36Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> If you have the table open in another tab (e.g. in table view or design view, it won’t let you delete it from the list on the left.
Access 2003 would.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/11 "2018-09-06T19:09:39Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> Access 2003 would.
\
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/12 "2018-09-06T19:11:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> \
Yeah, that’s apparently the attitude of the so-called ‘programmers’ at Microsoft.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/13 "2018-09-06T19:15:13Z")
I don’t know whether to keep trying to contribute to your threads. I get that you’re frustrated with your software, but I feel like you are directing some of that frustration towards those who are trying their best to help you.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/14 "2018-09-06T19:20:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I don’t know whether to keep trying to contribute to your threads. I get that you’re frustrated with your software, but I feel like you are directing some of that frustration towards those who are trying their best to help you.
Yes, I am extremely frustrated. I was using a product that worked for my purposes, and the ‘new and improved’ version doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do.
But I am not directing my frustrations at anyone here. I did misread your post. What I meant was that Access 2003 would let me delete a table in the left window, but I never open the tables because I don’t need to so there would never be a table open I’m trying to delete.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/15 "2018-09-06T19:29:10Z")
I can’t remember which version transition of Access heralded the change from open-tables-as-floating-windows to the more strict left pane list, and right pane workspace. I’m not even sure I ever used Access 2003 - I cut my teeth on 97, dabbled with 2000, and hardly touched it again until 2013.
Access 2016 doesn’t allow you to delete a table from the list in the left pane if the table is open either in the ‘table view’ mode (where it looks like a spreadsheet) or ‘design view’ mode (where you can set the field properties) - 2016 pops up a message box specifically saying that you must close the table before you can delete it. I am not sure what 2003 does, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it just greys out the delete command.
If you have no tables open as tabs in the right hand workspace, and you still can’t delete tables in the left pane, then the problem must be something else (and I am not sure what that might be)
I’m not sure what you mean about never opening tables - in your other threads, you discussed the columns being in the wrong order, etc - how would you see that without opening the table?
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/16 "2018-09-06T19:39:10Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I’m not sure what you mean about never opening tables - in your other threads, you discussed the columns being in the wrong order, etc - how would you see that without opening the table?
This just started with the new system, so last week. I would import .csv files and export them as fixed-position .txt files. I’d run the .txt files through Easytrieve programs to reformat them and do other things. The output from one of the Easytrieves looked wrong, so I went to the text file I’d exported from Access. It had a column where it shouldn’t have been. So I went into Access and _then_ opened the table. That’s where I saw that Access had decided, for no apparent reason, to put column 10 between 7 and 8. Prior to that, I might open a table if I import more columns than I know exist. (Excel has a habit of putting a blank column at the end sometimes.) I just delete the extra column. So I don’t _literally_ never open tables, but I have no need to and tend not to.
Which brings us to this thread. Since I could not delete the pre-existing table(s), and since there seems to be no way to avoid Access moving columns once it’s already happened, I am deleting the database and making a new one. Only there wasn’t a Save button like there was before. I did find ‘Save as database’ in another tab, so that issue is resolved.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/17 "2018-09-06T19:53:28Z")
Is the sole purpose of Access within this activity just the routine conversion of CSV files to fixed-width? If so, I’m thinking there’s probably a simpler way to crack that nut (I think I have a VB script that will do something like that at work)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/18 "2018-09-06T20:12:03Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> Is the sole purpose of Access within this activity just the routine conversion of CSV files to fixed-width? If so, I’m thinking there’s probably a simpler way to crack that nut (I think I have a VB script that will do something like that at work)
Yes, the sole purpose is to turn .csv files into fixed-position text files so that the file can be read by something like this (Note: there are many, many different input layouts):
```auto
FILE FILEA V(1000) SEQUENTIAL +
SYSNAME 'H:\EZ_Text_Files\873152_Input.txt'
AR-NUM 6 12 A
FIELD-BYTE-IN1 AR-NUM 1 A INDEX SUB1
NAME 18 40 A
NAME2 58 40 A
ADDR1 98 30 A
ADDR2 128 30 A
CITY 158 20 A
STATE 178 2 A
ZIP 198 5 A
*ZIP-4 204 4 A
ZIP-4 203 4 A
PHONE-AREA 208 3 A
PHONE-PRE 211 3 A
PHONE-REST 214 4 A
DOLS-MM 223 2 A
DOLS-DD 226 2 A
DOLS-YY 229 2 A
TERMS 233 15 A
CURRENT 248 12 A
CURRENT-NUM 248 12 N 0
CURRENT-BYTE-IN1 CURRENT 1 A INDEX SUB1
CURRENT-DOLLARS 248 10 N
CURRENT-CENTS 258 2 N
01-30 260 12 A
01-30-BYTE-IN1 01-30 1 A INDEX SUB1
01-30-DOLLARS 260 10 N
01-30-CENTS 270 2 N
31-60 272 12 A
31-60-BYTE-IN1 31-60 1 A INDEX SUB1
31-60-DOLLARS 272 10 N
31-60-CENTS 282 2 N
61-90 284 12 A
61-90-BYTE-IN1 61-90 1 A INDEX SUB1
61-90-DOLLARS 284 10 N
61-90-CENTS 294 2 N
OVER-90 296 12 A
OVER-90-BYTE-IN1 OVER-90 1 A INDEX SUB1
OVER-90-DOLLARS 296 10 N
OVER-90-CENTS 306 2 N
BALANCE 308 12 A
BALANCE-NUM 308 12 N 0
BALANCE-BYTE-IN1 BALANCE 1 A INDEX SUB1
BALANCE-DOLLARS 308 10 N
BALANCE-CENTS 318 2 N
```
As you can see, the Easytrieve expects to find fields starting in certain positions, and for a certain length. Access is the only too I have (that I know of) that will let me put the input file into fixed positions. I don’t know anything about VB – not even how to run it. So if you have a script I’ll give it a try; but I’ll need to be instructed.
ETA: You need to be in Straight Dope v3.7.3 theme to read the code. 😉
.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/19 "2018-09-06T20:31:41Z")
I’ll have to wait until next week when I am back at work (that’s where my scripts live) - but I’m fairly sure I have something that will just run with a double-click, and will create fixed-width copies of any CSV files it finds in a folder (it will need a bit of tweaking to set up the specific field widths you want, but that only needs doing once)
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [September 6, 2018, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/access-2010-saving-a-database/820803/20 "2018-09-06T20:35:53Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I’ll have to wait until next week when I am back at work (that’s where my scripts live) - but I’m fairly sure I have something that will just run with a double-click, and will create fixed-width copies of any CSV files it finds in a folder (it will need a bit of tweaking to set up the specific field widths you want, but that only needs doing once)
That sounds a lot easier than mucking about with Access. I could set up the positions and widths for each member’s data and save it under their number.
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