Microsoft Access Database Recovery

A tool for recovering damaged Microsoft Access databases. It handles .accdb files (Access 2007 and newer, including Microsoft 365) and .mdb files (Access 2000–2003): it finds the tables, reads the records and hands them over as Excel, CSV, JSON or SQL. Access database repair here needs no Access installation — a browser on any system is enough, including macOS, Linux and ChromeOS.

Get your tables and records back out of a damaged .accdb or .mdb file

Drop an .accdb or .mdb file here
MDB, ACCDB

Features

Reads a database with no catalog and no header
Every data page stores the page number of its own table definition, so records are found even when the MSysObjects catalog and the file header are both destroyed outright.
Shows the data before you save it
The table list, the column count and the first 100 records of each table appear straight away, so you can see what survived before committing to a file.
Deleted records
Access flags a deleted record and leaves its bytes in place for a while. Where the content has not been overwritten yet, those records come back; where it has, the report says so instead of quietly returning nothing.
Excel, CSV, JSON and SQL
Every table exports as one .xlsx workbook (a sheet per table) or as a set of CSV files. The SQL dump imports into SQLite, PostgreSQL and MySQL with a single command.
Long MEMO fields
Access stores long text away from the record itself. Those fields are followed to their own pages, and when such a page is destroyed the field is left empty rather than filled with noise.
An honest damage report
Under each table you see how many records were read, how many its definition claims, and how many pages could not be read. Partial recovery is never presented as complete.

Access says "unrecognized database format". Can that be fixed?

Usually yes. That error appears when the file header cannot be read — while the tables and records themselves are typically intact, because every data page remembers which table it belongs to. This tool goes around the header and reassembles the data page by page. The same error also appears with no damage at all, for instance when an .accdb is opened in Access 2003; in that case the verdict will tell you the file is fine.

Do I need Microsoft Access installed?

No. The format is parsed entirely in the browser, so any system works — including macOS, Linux and ChromeOS, where Access does not run at all.

Can I get an .accdb file back?

No — the result comes out as Excel, CSV, JSON or SQL. Rebuilding a valid .accdb outside Access is a large project of its own, and a half-working database file is worse than a table you can read. If you need the data back in Access, import the .xlsx or run the SQL dump.

What about a password-protected file?

From Access 2010 onwards the contents are genuinely encrypted, and without the password nobody can read them. Such a file looks the same as a database damaged beyond what page scanning reaches, so the verdict honestly reports that no structures were found rather than promising the impossible.

Are forms, macros and modules recovered?

No — this tool deals with tables and records, that is, with your data. Forms, reports, macros and VBA modules are not recovered.

How large a database can it open?

The limit comes from the memory of the tab, not from the tool: the file is read page by page and records go straight into the output as they are read, without piling up in memory. The Access format itself is capped at two gigabytes.

You May Also Like

📜 Creation Date Certificate 📬 Mail archive reader 📝 OCR Text Extractor 📄 Office document repair 🔓 Office unprotect 🕗 Unsaved document recovery

How do you rate this tool?

Thank you for your rating!
Want to share more? Leave a comment!
Thank you! Your comment will appear after moderation.
Who is this tool for?
🎓 Students 📚 Educators & Teachers 💻 Developers & IT Pros 🩹 File recovery
Published Author: