access software help please

smokeyone · General User Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 43

Hello

I know nothing about access but a friend has an access database with 1500 names on it.
Is there a way of converting the disc to something I might be able to use.

Thanks very much

Arineckaig · OOo Advocate Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 332

You can link OO.o Base to a MS Access database but only if you are using Windows. You do not even need the Access program to do so. You might want to check out:

http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.phtml?t=44517

or

http://documentation.openoffice.org/manuals/oooauthors2/0110GS-GettingStartedWithBase.pdf starting at page 44

smokeyone · General User Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 43

Thanks very much indeed for the links. So if I get hold of the disc I should be able to read it or even print out labels or even store it as a proper mailing system......
Cheers

Arineckaig · OOo Advocate Joined: 01 Mar 2004 Posts: 332

You should certainly be able to do so, but do not expect the process to be self-evident. Mailing labels are best prepared from a separate Writer document that is linked to the Access database tables once the latter has been registered as a database source rather than trying to create a report within Base. The strength of OpenOffice is that its various formats - Writer, Calc and Base - work well together. A frequent problem is how to achieve that aim. A further good source of information on labels is:

http://openoffice.blogs.com/openoffice/labels/

Solveig's blogs are invaluable as an introduction to OO.o