Save a database or an object in a different format

Saving your work in Access is a little different from saving in most Office apps. Changes to data, the primary reason for saving your work in most apps, are automatically saved in Access.

In Access, instead of saving data changes, you save changes to the database design, or you save the whole database, data and all, with a new filename as a backup, or in a different format, such as an earlier Access file format, a database template, or a compiled database (a database where you can't change the design). You can also save individual database objects as new objects.

This topic introduces the various ways you can save your work in Access, and provides links to topics with more details.

Save database design elements for reuse

To reuse a database or a database object, you use the Save As dialog:

1. Open the database or database object.
2. On the File tab, click Save As.
3. Do one of the following steps:
4. To save a database in a different format, click Save Database As.
5. To save a database object in a different format, click Save Object As.

Saving a copy of a database or an object is one way to share your desktop data, but there are others. For more information, see the article Ways to share an Access desktop database.