Power Tip: Navigate around a ‘Save as’ roadblock

Today's guest blogger is Luke Chung, President and Founder of FMS, Inc. Luke has written and presented a wide range of topics related to Access over the years. In addition to their many Access related products, FMS offers a wealth of great Access papers, tips, and videos on their site.

It seems so simple and you've done it many times before. You have a Microsoft Access ACCDB database (from Access 2007 or 2010) and want to save it (convert it) to a Microsoft Access MDB format database so it can be used by Access 2003 or earlier:

Unfortunately, when you try this in Microsoft Access 2007, sometimes this error message appears:

You cannot save this database in an earlier version format, because it uses features that require the current file format.

This could occur if you added new features of MS Access 2007/2010. For instance, tables with the new multi-value or attachment field types. In those cases, you wouldn't expect to convert the database to an MDB. So you check and verify that none of your tables have these field types and you still have this problem which doesn't explain what features you're using which require the new format.

It turns out this error can still occur even if you didn't add new ACCDB features. What's going on?

The Problem: Microsoft Access 2010 Adds the MsysResources Table

This problem occurs if the database was opened with Microsoft Access 2010. MS Access 2010 stores themes in an attachment field in the MsysResources table, and MDBs don't support attachment field types. So even though you didn't add this incompatible field type to your Access database, Access sees this table and field and and concludes the database can't be converted.

The Solution: Delete the MsysResources Table

It wasn't easy figuring out the cause of the problem. Fortunately, the solution is fairly simple:

1. In Access 2007, right-click the top bar of the Navigation Pane, and then click Navigation Options.
2. In the Navigation Options dialog box, under Display Options, select the Show Hidden Objects and Show System Objects check boxes, and then click OK.
3. Select the MsysResources table, then press DELETE.
4. Save the ACCDB as an MDB.

Note that if you're in Access 2010, you can simply save the ACCDB as an MDB because Access 2010 removes the table automatically in the conversion process.

Got a great tip you’d like to share? Send it to Mike & Chris at accpower@microsoft.com.