How to Open MDB Files without MS Access?

Written By Edwin Stark
Updated on October 29th, 2022

Some days back, I received an email from one of my reader with a small question. & his query was: how to open MDB files without MS Access? And I guess many of you also face the same question when you don’t have MS Access but you have to view or open the contents of MDB or ACCDB files. So, today, I will try to answer this and will be sharing with you some easy methods or ways to open MDB/ACCDB files without even installing Microsoft Access in your system. But before jumping into the methods let us first understand what is an MDB file?

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What is an MDB File?

MDB (Microsoft Database) is a database file developed by Microsoft Access; it is the default database file form previously used in Microsoft Access. While the current version of Access uses the ACCDB format. MDB files include database queries, tables and a lot more that can be used to link to and to store data from other files like HTML and XML and some applications like Excel, SharePoint etc. Also Read: How to Repair Corrupt Access Database?

When do you Need to Open MDB files Without MS Access?

Now, imagine a situation when you receive an MDB file or ACCDB file from another person or colleague & you don’t have an installed MS Access in your system or computer. In order to help the people who have no Microsoft Access for MDB /ACCDB file to open and edit, it is important to find out another way to open and edit the files. Let us now see the three easy ways to open, edit & view MDB and ACCDB files without installing MS Access.

Using Microsoft Excel

One way to open MDB file is through Microsoft Excel. It is mostly used when MS Access cannot work. You can import the MDB file into Microsoft Excel. However, there is a probability that the data will be saved in some other spreadsheet format.

Using Notepad

It is really worth a try to open MDB file with your Notepad. As many files are text-only files. So, a text editor like notepad can be the best fit to open MDB / ACCDB files.

Using Oxygen Professional Base

Unfortunately, if the above two methods didn’t work then you may try an automated method. On of the method is by using an Oxygen Professional Base. With this techniques, one can create, edit and view MDB files easily and quickly. Using this utility user can import and export MDB files with so much ease.

Using Libre Office

By using these utility users can create, edit and view MDB file free… It allows user, search, sort, import, and export and even modifies MDB files. Note: If you are looking for a trustworthy, reliable and most efficient way of viewing your MS Access files without MS Access then you should definitely look upon to the next method.

Open & Read MDB file/ACCDB file using third party tool

There are many software and tools available to complete this kind of work. However, one of the applications that I will suggest you guys to use is MDB file viewer. It is a free tool to view, open and read MDB files without the installation of MS Access. A file viewer is a reader which is generally designed to open a specific type of file. They do not support the file if damaged or corrupt. But this tool is a free program to open healthy as well as a corrupt file without any error. Some of its prominent features are:

Supports preview of MDB/ACCDB files without MS Access.
It is a free tool to open corrupt or damaged access database files.
Compatible and runs on all MS Windows versions.
It doesn’t bother about the file size you are dealing with. It supports a view of any file regardless of size it possesses.
This tool can scan the damaged or inaccessible state of MDB or ACCDB files and show preview of its contents.
MDB Viewer tool is completely non-dependent of other platforms to give users a preview of their MS Access database files without having Microsoft access installed in a system.

Open Corrupt MDB Files

Sometimes users want to open corrupt MDB files to fix them and retrieve the data inside the file. To fix corrupt MDB files use a third-party tool that experts recommend. MS Access Recovery Tool quickly repairs corrupt MDB and ACCDB files of MS Access.

Conclusion

I have mentioned all the possible methods I know in this blog So, I hope these methods would help you in finding the appropriate solution and I would personally suggest you to try these methods to open MDB files without MS Access.

About The Author:

Edwin Stark

Edwin Stark is a Technical Content Writer who specializes in writing about databases, e-mail recovery, and e-mail migration solutions. He loves researching and developing content that helps database administrators, organizations and novices to fix multiple problems.