# MS Access 2000 question
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-access-2000-question/90566
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 30, 2001, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-access-2000-question/90566 "2001-10-30T18:04:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jk1245](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jk1245)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-access-2000-question/90566/1 "2001-10-30T18:04:27Z")
Any Access experts out there?
I have lately been using it quite a bit for work. We are actually putting all our data into a central area (the database) rather than keeping it scattered over everyone’s hard drives in Word and Excel files as it had been. All good.
However, because there are so many old files, I have just linked them to their project numbers in the database rather than cutting and pasting the _many_ files that are out there. Any new projects get written up in the database itself.
Now, the problem. When generating a report (for example, all projects expected to be done in the next quarter), I would like the project data in these linked documents to be included in the report. Is there a way to automatically open linked Word or Excel files and include them when generating a report? Note: I don’t want a listing of the links, I want the actual document or spreadsheet included w/o having to reenter it all.
My kingdom (what little there is) to the Doper who solves this!
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### Author:  [@BF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BF)
#### Post date: [October 30, 2001, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ms-access-2000-question/90566/2 "2001-10-30T18:24:28Z")
This can be done but it’s not for the novice. Here’s a couple of links [Dev’s](http://www.mvps.org/access/) and [Roger’s](http://rogersaccesslibrary.com/) that should help you get started.