How do I connect Microsoft Access to a database that supports ODBC?

Use an Easysoft ODBC driver to connect Microsoft Access to a database that supports ODBC, enabling you to retrieve and update data stored in data stores such as MongoDB and Salesforce from a Microsoft Access front end.

Microsoft Access uses an ODBC driver to interact with an external data source. ODBC is a data access technology, the Microsoft implementation of which is included with Windows.

The components necessary to connect Microsoft Access to Salesforce are:

Microsoft Access <-> Salesforce ODBC driver <-> Salesforce

The components necessary to connect Microsoft Access to MongoDB are:

Microsoft Access <-> MongoDB ODBC driver <-> MongoDB

Installing, licensing, and testing the Easysoft ODBC driver

  1. Download the Windows Salesforce ODBC driver or Windows MongoDB ODBC driver as required.
  2. Install and license the Easysoft ODBC driver on a Windows machine.

    For installation instructions, refer to the Salesforce ODBC driver documentation or MongoDB ODBC driver documentation.

Before you can use the Easysoft ODBC driver to connect Access to Salesforce or MongoDB, you need to configure a System ODBC data source in ODBC Data Source Administrator. An ODBC data source stores the connection details for the target database (in this case, Salesforce or MongoDB) and the ODBC driver that's required to connect to it (in this case, the Salesforce ODBC driver or the MongoDB ODBC driver).

To run ODBC Data Source Administrator, in the Windows Run dialog box, enter this command if you're using a 64-bit version of Microsoft Access:

%windir%\system32\odbcad32.exe

–Or–

Enter this command if you're using a 32-bit version of Microsoft Access:

%windir%\syswow64\odbcad32.exe

If you're not sure whether your version of Microsoft Access is 32-bit or 64-bit, start Microsoft Access and then look for the Access process in Task Manager. If the process name is MSACCESS.EXE *32, Microsoft Access is 32-bit. If the process name is MSACCESS.EXE, Microsoft Access is 64-bit.

Creating a Salesforce ODBC Data Source

  1. Choose the System DSN tab, and then choose Add.
  2. In the Create New Data Source dialog box, choose Easysoft ODBC-Salesforce Driver, and then choose Finish.
  3. Complete the DSN Setup dialog box:
    Setting Value
    DSN Salesforce
    User Name The name of your Salesforce user. For example, myuser@mydomain.com.
    Password The password for your Salesforce user.
    Token The security token for your Salesforce user, if required.

    To find out whether you need to supply a security token, choose the Test button. If the connection attempt fails with an error which contains LOGIN_MUST_USE_SECURITY_TOKEN, you need to supply one.

    Salesforce emails the security token to the email address associated with your Salesforce user account. If you have not received a security token, you can regenerate it. Salesforce will then email the new security token to you. To regenerate your security token, log in to Salesforce and then choose Setup from the user menu. Search for "security token" in the Quick Find box. Choose Reset Security Token in the Reset Security Token page. When you receive the token in your email client, copy it and then paste it into the Token field.

  4. Use the Test button to verify that you can successfully connect to Salesforce.

Creating a MongoDB ODBC data source

  1. Choose the System DSN tab, and then choose Add.
  2. In the Create New Data Source dialog box, choose Easysoft ODBC-MongoDB Driver, and then choose Finish.
  3. Complete these fields in the Easysoft ODBC-MongoDB Driver DSN Setup dialog box:
    Setting Value
    DSN MongoDB
    Description Easysoft MongoDB ODBC driver
    Server The name or IP address of the host where your MongoDB instance is running.
    User Name If you need to supply a user name to access your MongoDB database, enter it here.
    Password The password for your MongoDB user name.
  4. Use the Test button to verify that you can successfully connect to your MongoDB database.

Connecting Microsoft Access to your ODBC database

You can now connect Microsoft Access to Salesforce or MongoDB:

  1. Open your Microsoft Access database.
  2. Do one of the following:
    • For Microsoft Access 2003 and earlier, on the File Menu, choose Get External Data > Link Tables.

      The Link dialog box is displayed.

    • For Microsoft Access 2007, on the External Data tab, choose More > ODBC Database.

      The Get External Data wizard starts.

    • For Microsoft Access 2010 and later, on the External Data tab, choose New Data Source. Choose From Other Sources > ODBC Database.

      The Get External Data wizard starts.

  3. Do one of the following:
    • For Microsoft Access 2003 and earlier, choose ODBC Databases from the Files of type list.
    • For Microsoft Access 2007 and later, choose Link to the data source by creating a linked table, and then choose OK.

    The Select Data Source dialog box is displayed.

  4. Choose your ODBC data source from the Machine Data Source list, and then choose OK.

    The Link Tables dialog box is displayed.

  5. Choose the table that you want to link and then choose OK.
  6. Choose the linked table in Microsoft Access, and then press Return to work with the linked data.