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In one of my Stack Overflow questions about MS Access front-ends, an SO community member suggests that each user should have their own copy of the .MDB or .ACCDB front-end file:

Don't put the database on a network drive and share it with users. Give each user their own copy.

Is this necessary? What are the problems associated with multiple users accessing the same file?

The estimated number of users for my future front-end is currently 5, possibly growing to 10-20.

Community
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User1974
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It is not necessary if you mark the file itself as read-only (right-click, properties, bottom-left mark) as all temp data then will be forced to real temp files and the file, per definition, cannot be corrupted.

However, the user will be warned about this with a yellow banner when he/she opens the file.

If they can't live with that, you can create a shortcut to copy and launch the frontend which will provide "automatic" updates of all users' frontends at relaunch.

A script that performs this (you may reduce it somewhat for your scenario) can be found here:

Deploy and update a Microsoft Access application in a Citrix environment

Gustav
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  • With the read-only option, what happens when I want to update the file, and people have it open? Would the file be locked, preventing me from replacing it? – User1974 Apr 28 '17 at 17:01
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    Whenever the user clicks the shortcut to launch your application, a fresh copy is pulled from the server. This way it will always be updated and in perfect condition. – Gustav Apr 28 '17 at 19:10
  • I wonder if I could get away with just having one [.accdE](https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Hide-VBA-code-from-users-ce6ab610-af07-4008-91e0-1ef1b796ff18) file on the network? They seem to be the equivalent of read-only. – User1974 Oct 26 '17 at 23:45
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    No. It just hides design access to code, forms, and reports. See paragraph _Functionality that is changed in an .accde file_. – Gustav Oct 27 '17 at 06:37
  • I think I'll go with a hybrid approach. Create a single `.accdE` file on the network for 5+ people to share --and-- make it read-only. – User1974 Oct 31 '17 at 17:45
  • Goog idea, but be aware that it will pop a message when the user opens the application, that no changes can be made. Some find that annoying. – Gustav Nov 01 '17 at 08:13