I have a serious business problem. I suspect that No mapped drive or folder set containing an Access DB anywhere within the tree should be set to "offline." In my case, after a couple of weeks of use, it was discovered that some of the record changes made by a person on a Win 7 Pro computer were not showing up in the "golden" database, which was on a "server" computer (Win 7 Pro). (A partition on the server computer had been mapped to a drive on the client computer.} At first glance at the database properties database location information, the "client" computer was using the golden copy. However, after some thought, I figured there was a DB sync problem. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that an offline switch was set on the client... I had a copy of the database on the client! (Note: This copy was "invisible to searches, probably because the copy database had a temporary name! BTW, where is the offline info stored on the client computer?) I noticed an Offline tab in the properties window of the DB associated with "the mapped drive." I tried syncing, but I found the DBs wouldn't sync. My option was to pick one or the other or create a copy of the database on this computer and put it on the server. There was no indication on how I was supposed to combine-sync- the two databases. Ugh! As far as I know - I'm not an experienced Access coder but I am experienced at SQL- I have to manually (eg using queries) update the golden DB, being careful to follow the keys, etc. I've done a lot of googling on this issue with no result. As I mentioned, I think the answer is that no Access DB should be in a tree that has "offline" enabled. This said, I would conclude Win 7 has a built in gotcha- it seems the offline switch is enabled by default. Correct me if I am wrong, but is this a real MS Windows 7 Pro issue that needs to be addressed? Or is there appropriate documentation somewhere that any user will hit as they build a mapped drive and they have an Access DB on the drive. Are my conclusions correct with respect to Access DBs and the offline switch: Once the golden version is not accessible, the databases will be "out of sync"? Duane G. Leet, PhD 45 years experience in technology

Hi, By default, files with the following extensions are excluded: .db? .ldb .mdb .mde .mdw .pst .slm For more information, Please access the following KB. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/252509 Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

The kb article is for Windows 2000, not Windows 7 Pro. During the setup process, I don't recall running into any messages regarding offline files. In fact, although I knew it was technically possible to set up offline files with third party apps, I did not know Windows was capable of this function until I ran into this problem. So, I think there's a problem here that requires further explanation by Microsoft. It is for sure that the defaults above did not work and that three DBs were set up as offline. In fact, in the Offline Files Folder view, I find "Mapped Computer Drives" and "Computers" listed. Is it possible that something in the security mechanism for Windows 7 Pro overrides the defaults? I've looked at all the security options and don't see where this could be done. How could those drives be set Offline when, to my knowledge, I only shared them and set up security for them? One possibility I've thought of is that a user with admin authority right clicked on the Access DB, its folder, or a higher level folder and clicked on the entry "Always Available Offline." I see that this option is provided on at least folders. If this option is checked, does that override the default setting of an access DB inside it? Duane G. Leet, PhD 45 years experience in technology

Hi, To check "Always Available Offine" option will make the folder or files to be accessed when it is offline. But this does not affect the default setting of an access DB.Please remember to click Mark as Answer on the post that helps you, and to click Unmark as Answer if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread.

Hi Juke, i experienced the same problem as AnInkling told you, my user in my company who use win 7 pro also got this problem, yes you were right, in theoritically a .mdb files won't be affected by offline file option, but in fact, it was affected. I think Microsoft should working on this. Thanks.Regards, Ferry Huang