Manage user and group accounts

Database user accounts provide specific privileges to individuals to access information and resources in the database. A group account contains a number of user accounts and provides a means of controlling and managing the permissions and access of this group to the objects in the database.

Create accounts, add users, and print information

Create a security administrator account

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using a secure workgroup.

   How?

   A Microsoft Access workgroup information file contains a list of users who share data, also know as a workgroup. Users' passwords are also stored in the workgroup information file. To control who has access to your database, you must create a new workgroup information file.

   1. Start Microsoft Access.
   2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click Workgroup Administrator.
   3. In the Workgroup Administrator dialog box, click Create.
   4. In the Workgroup Owner Information dialog box, type your name and organization, and then type any combination of up to 20 numbers and letters for the workgroup ID (WID).

      Caution   Be sure to write down your exact name, organization, and workgroup ID ù including whether letters are uppercase or lowercase (for all three entries) ù and keep them in a secure place. If you have to re-create the workgroup information file, you must supply exactly the same name, organization, and workgroup ID. If you forget or lose these entries, you can't recover them and might lose access to your databases.

   5. Type a new name for the new workgroup information file. To save in a different location, type a new path or click Browse to specify the new path.
   6. Click OK.

   The new workgroup information file is used the next time you start Microsoft Access. Any user and group accounts or passwords that you create are saved in the new workgroup information file. To have others join the workgroup defined by your new workgroup information file, copy the file to a shared folder (if you didn't already save it in a shared folder in step 5), and then have each user run the Workgroup Administrator to join the new workgroup information file.

   Important   To make sure your database is completely secure, don't use the default workgroup defined by the workgroup information file that was created when you installed Microsoft Access. You should make sure the workgroup information file that defines the workgroup you are using has been created with a unique workgroup ID (WID), and, if not, you should create a new file.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, click New.
5. In the New User/Group dialog box, type the name of the administrator account and a personal ID (PID), and then click OK to create the new account.

   Guidelines for passwords

   User names can range from 1 to 20 characters, and can include letters, accented characters, numbers, spaces, and symbols, with the following exceptions:

   • The characters " \ [ ] : | < > + = ; , . ? *
   • Leading spaces
   • Control characters (ASCII 10 through ASCII 31)

   Note   Passwords are case-sensitive.

   Caution   Be sure to write down the exact account name and PID entries, including whether letters are uppercase or lowercase, and keep them in a secure place. If you ever have to re-create the account, you must supply the same name and PID entries. If you forget or lose these entries, you can't recover them.

   Notes

   • A user account name cannot be same as an existing group account name, and visa versa.
   • The PID entered in step 5 is not a password. Microsoft Access uses the PID and the user name as seeds for an encryption algorithm to generate a secure identifier for the user account.
6. In the Available Groups box, click Admins, and then click Add.

   Microsoft Access adds the new administrator account to the Admins group and displays Admins in the Member Of box.

Create a security user account

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

Note   It is usually easier to manage security if you organize users into groups, and then assign permissions to groups rather than to individual users.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup in which you want to use the account.

   Important   The accounts you create for users must be stored in the workgroup information file that those users will use. If you're using a different workgroup to create the database, change your workgroup before creating the accounts. You can use the Workgroup Administrator (point to Security on the Tools menu) to find out which workgroup information file is currently in use.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, click New.
5. In the New User/Group dialog box, type the name of the new account and a personal ID (PID), and then click OK to create the new account, which is automatically added to the Users group.

   Caution   Be sure to write down the exact account name and PID, including whether letters are uppercase or lowercase, and keep them in a secure place. If you ever have to re-create an account that has been deleted or created in a different workgroup, you must supply the same name and PID entries. If you forget or lose these entries, you can't recover them.

Notes

• A user account name cannot be same as an existing group account name, and visa versa.
• The PID entered in step 5 is not a password. Microsoft Access uses the PID and the user name as seeds for an encryption algorithm to generate a secure identifier for the user account.

Create a security group account

As part of securing a database, you can create group accounts in your Microsoft Access workgroup that you use to assign a common set of permissions to multiple users.

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup in which you want to use the account.

   Important   The accounts you create for users must be stored in the workgroup information file that those users will use. If you're using a different workgroup to create the database, change your workgroup before creating the accounts. You can use the Workgroup Administrator (point to Security on the Tools menu) to change workgroups  and to find out which workgroup information file is currently in use.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Groups tab, click New.
5. In the New User/Group dialog box, type the name of the new account and a personal ID (PID).

   Caution   Be sure to write down the exact account name and PID, including whether letters are uppercase or lowercase, and keep them in a secure place. If you have to re-create an account that has been deleted or created in a different workgroup, you must supply the same name and PID entries. If you forget or lose these entries, you can't recover them.

   Note   A user account name cannot be same as an existing group account name, and visa versa.

6. Click OK to create the new group account.

Note   The PID entered in step 5 is not a password. Microsoft Access uses the PID and the user name as seeds for an encryption algorithm to generate a secure identifier for the user account.

Add users to security groups

Print information about security users and groups

Note   If the workgroup information file was created with Microsoft Access 95 or later, all users in the workgroup can print user and group information. If you are using a workgroup information file created with Microsoft Access version 2.0, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group to print user and group information.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup information file whose security information you want to print.

   You can find out which workgroup information file is current or change workgroups by using the Workgroup Administrator.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, click Print Users And Groups.
5. In the Print Security dialog box, do one of the following:

   Click Only Users to print a report showing all users defined for the current workgroup.

   Click Only Groups to print a report showing all groups defined for the current workgroup.

   Click Both Users And Groups to print both user and group account information.

Delete accounts and remove users

Remove users from security groups

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

Notes

• You can't remove users from the default Users group. Microsoft Access automatically adds all users to the Users group. To remove any user account from the Users group, you must delete the account.
• There must be at least one user in the predefined Admins group at all times.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup containing the user and group accounts.

   You can find out which workgroup is current or change workgroups by using the Workgroup Administrator.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, enter the user you want to remove in the Name box.
5. In the Member Of box, click the group you want to remove the user from, and then click Remove.
6. Repeat step 5 to remove this user from any other groups. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to remove other users from groups.

Delete a security user account

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

Note   The Admin user account can't be deleted.

1. Open a database.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
3. On the Users tab, enter a user in the Name box, and then click Delete.
4. Click Yes to delete the user account.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 if you want to delete additional user accounts, and then click OK when you have finished.

Delete a security group account

To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.

Note   The Admins and Users group accounts can't be deleted.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup that contains the account you want to delete.

   You can find out which workgroup is current or change workgroups by using the Workgroup Administrator.

2. Open a database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Groups tab, enter the group you want to delete in the Name box, and then click Delete.
5. Click Yes to delete the group account.
6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 if you want to delete additional group accounts.

View or transfer ownership

View or transfer ownership of individual objects in a secure database

If you have Administer permission for a table, query, form, report, or macro, you can view the owner of the object or transfer its ownership to another user or group.

Note   If you change ownership of a table, query, form, report, or macro to a group account, all users who belong to the group automatically receive the permissions associated with ownership of the object.

1. Open the database.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Permissions.

   On the Change Owner tab, Microsoft Access displays a list of the tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros that are currently displayed in the Database window, and the current owner of those objects.

3. Click an object type in the Object Type box, or use the existing object type.
4. From the Object list, click one or more objects whose ownership that you want to change. To select more than one object, either hold down CTRL and click the objects, or drag through the ones you want to select.
5. In the New Owner box, click the user or group account that you want to be the new owner of the object or objects.
6. Click the Change Owner button.

Transfer ownership of an entire database to another administrator

Note   To import a database, you must have Open/Run permission for the database, and Read Design permission for its objects. To import tables, you must also have Read Data permission. If you have permissions for some tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros but not others, Microsoft Access imports only those objects for which you have permissions.

1. Start Microsoft Access by using a secure workgroup that contains the user account that you want to own the database and its objects.

   How?

   A Microsoft Access workgroup information file contains a list of users who share data, also know as a workgroup. Users' passwords are also stored in the workgroup information file. To control who has access to your database, you must create a new workgroup information file.

   1. Start Microsoft Access.
   2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click Workgroup Administrator.
   3. In the Workgroup Administrator dialog box, click Create.
   4. In the Workgroup Owner Information dialog box, type your name and organization, and then type any combination of up to 20 numbers and letters for the workgroup ID (WID).

      Caution   Be sure to write down your exact name, organization, and workgroup ID ù including whether letters are uppercase or lowercase (for all three entries) ù and keep them in a secure place. If you have to re-create the workgroup information file, you must supply exactly the same name, organization, and workgroup ID. If you forget or lose these entries, you can't recover them and might lose access to your databases.

   5. Type a new name for the new workgroup information file. By default, the workgroup information file is saved in the language folder. To save in a different location, type a new path or click Browse to specify the new path.

   The new workgroup information file is used the next time you start Microsoft Access. Any user and group accounts or passwords that you create are saved in the new workgroup information file. To have others join the workgroup defined by your new workgroup information file, copy the file to a shared folder (if you didn't already save it in a shared folder in step 5), and then have each user run the Workgroup Administrator to join the new workgroup information file.

   You can find out which workgroup is current or change workgroups by using the Workgroup Administrator.

2. Log on by using that account.
3. Create a new blank database.
Import all of the objects into the new database from the database that has the ownership you want to change.

How?

1. Open the database or switch to the Database window for the open database.
2. On the File menu, point to Get External Data, and then click Import.
3. In the Files Of Type box, make sure Microsoft Access (*.mdb; *.adp; *.mda; *.mde; *.ade) is selected.
4. Click the arrow to the right of the Look In box, select the drive and folder where the Microsoft Access database (.mdb) or Microsoft Access project (.adp) that you want to import from is located, and then double-click the database's icon.
5. In the Import Objects dialog box, click the tab for the kind of object that you want to import, and then click each object that you want to import, or click Select All to import all objects of the desired type. Repeat this step for each kind of object that you want to import.

   To import just the tables' definitions (not the data that they contain), click Options, and then under Import Tables, click Definition Only.

   To import select queries as tables (for example, to create a read-only database), click Options, and then under Import Queries, click As Tables. Action queries import as queries no matter how this option is set.

   To include relationships, custom menus and toolbars, or import/export specifications (Access database only), click Options, and then, under Import, select the items you want included. Microsoft Access won't import a toolbar, menu bar, or shortcut menu if it has the same name as one in the Access file that you're importing to.