Re: database is all shapes instaed of letters
Okay, you have 2 mdb's on the floppy, an old one and the one you want. The old one was not opened with wordpad and reads in access fine, the one you want you opened with wordpad and access can't find it.
Even if you open an .mdb with wordpad it should not affect the file, unless you altered it and/or saved it as a .txt (which reformats the file). And if you did this from the original file on the floppy and do not have access to the very-original file to which you got the one on the floppy from, you have reached the end.
If you have not altered it and/or save it as a .txt (btw, just opening the file does not alter it, it's only when you input, delete, etc from the text body or save as a .txt do you alter the file), you should be able to open access, go to the file tab, then choose open and at the bottom is a list of extensions just below where you would input the file name. Clicking the arrow brings up a pop-up menu to which you can choose "all files", then browse to your floppy drive for the file you are looking for.
If you do not see the extensions for the files, unhide them from your folder options.
BTW, the information above about what alters a .mdb is based on a test I just did with an .mdb of mine using access.
And, yes, if you open .mdb, you do see squares, but if I close it without saving it as a .txt, it remains a .mdb. Even if you save it as a .txt, simply changing the extension to .mdb or opening it with wordpad and attempting to save it as something other than a .txt or .rtf style file will not bring back the dbase format.
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