Access 2010 on a computer with Access 2013

Just note that you may still run into issues if you have any of your listed scenarios.
Access 2013 is (as of this writing) still relatively new, so there may be some issues popping as time goes by...

Remember, the runtime was designed so that you would not need to install the full version.
(and deny users the ability to make design changes to the db)
So you need to consider why you need some users to be able change the db design...

Thanks for the caution.

None of the users will be changing the design of the 2010 database. We have an existing 2010 database in place (as an .accde) but some users are getting new computers with Access 2013 for them to work on unrelated projects. My concern was that this not interfere with the existing Access 2010 database.

1. Will the .accde file from Access 2010 run on Access 2013?

It should work fine if it is not shared by others with Access 2010. The front end needs to be local (not shared).

2. Will the Access 2010 runtime work fine on a machine that has Access 2013?
3. Can we install the full versions of Access 2010 and Access 2013 on the same machine?

Both #2 and #3 have the same answer of  should be avoided . It does not matter if it is the full or runtime versions. You should avoid installing multiple  versions of Aceess

I agree with HTC regarding avoiding installing (and running) multiple versions of Access. While you can get by with it, the steps needed to avoid troubles are generally not something the average user is going to do (i.e. reboot every time you need to switch versions).

I would strong encourage you to thoroughly test the application in 2013 before you commit to a particular scenario, of course. As Boag said, 2013 is relatively new and therefore you may have some gotchas that aren't widely known.

Hi LSMConsulting,

Do you mean that if I have 2010 and 2013 on the same system, I'm going to have to reboot every time I switch between them?

For instance, in the past I've had Access 97, Access 2000, and Access 2003 all installed on my notebook because I was supporting different databases at different clients. These all worked fine together. Currently, I have Access 2003 and Access 2010 installed on my notebook (in order to support different databases at different clients). When I switch between them, I have to wait for 20-30 seconds while I get different messages saying that Access is installing (although I don't have to reboot). I was hoping the 2010/2013 combination would be like the former (switch back and forth without an issue).

The situation I'm writing about is that the user has an existing 2010 database but they are buying Office 2013 for their new computers and Access 2013 will be used for unrelated databases. So a few individual users will be switching back and forth between the old Access 2010 database and various new (unrelated) Access 2013 databases.

If this works seamlessly, that's great. If it doesn't, I either have to convert the old Access 2010 database to 2013 (and force them to upgrade all their machines to 2013) or I have to tell them they can't get Access 2013 for any of their new systems.

James

James


There is NO differences between 2010 and 2013 databases.


jaffer

James,

What LSMConsulting, which I totally agree with,  is poin ting out is that you can keep you app as a 2010 ACCDE/MDE but you will need to test it with 2013 to be sure there are no issues.

I have an Access 2003 app that is deployed ass an MDE. I still have a a large number of Office 20003 users so I can't upgrade it yet.. I have fully tested it with Access 2007 and 2010. I did have to make a few tweaks to get it to run with all Access 2003, 2007 and 2010.

I have seen Access 2003 MDEs that run fine in 2007/201 without any mods. It all depends on if you use anything that is handled differently with a newer version of Access. Thus you need to test.
 
FWIW: I use to have multiple version of Access installed at the same time.  After helping other developers fix issues cause by multiple versions I no longer do it. I use a VM for each version of Office. I also have VMs for different OS's that I support. That allows me to do a better simulation of my client's actual environments while developing.  It has saved my lots of headaches that I see others having. You may be lucky and are not doing anything that will cause any reference issues.

There is NO differences between 2010 and 2013 databases.

But there are differences between ACCESS 2010 and ACCESS 2013. That's the issue here.

I also easily ran 97/2000/2002/2003 side-by-side, but in general that has not been the case with later versions of Access. I haven't even tried to run 2013 SbS with 2010, and do as HTC mentions and always use VM's to run multiple versions of Access.

You might be able to get away with that, but it's definitely not the right way to handle this. In general you should have a single version of Access on a machine, and you should adapt your databases to run in that version - or use the Sagekey installer to insure that your app runs properly alongside other Access app correctly:

www.sagekey.com

I have actually installed both Office 2010 and Office 2013 (both part of Office 365) side by side and have found it to work very well together. The Office 2013 is using the new  click to run installer and it just works. There is no 30 second ...installing... screen that you had in the previous side by side installations of Access.

[Edited by SouthMod]

Thank you!

Office365 is not desktop based. It's "cloud based". If you want to install multiple DESKTOP versions of Access on the same machine, be aware that in general that is NOT a good idea - you should instead install the most commonly used version of Access on your "main" desktop, and install other versions in virtual machines.