Set up more than one workgroup to use the same secure database

You can give users in different Microsoft Access workgroups access to a secure database and its objects. This is useful if you want users at remote locations to manage their own workgroup membership.

If necessary, use the Workgroup Administrator to join one of the workgroups.
How?
Important If you are setting up user-level security and need to make sure that your workgroup and its permissions can't be duplicated, you should make sure the workgroup information file that defines the workgroup you're joining has been created with a unique workgroup ID (WID). If such a workgroup information file doesn't exist, you should create one.
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 Join.
4. Type the path and name of the workgroup information file that defines the Microsoft Access workgroup you want to join, and then click OK, or click Browse and then use the Select Workgroup Information File dialog box to locate the workgroup information file.
  The next time you start Microsoft Access, it uses the user and group accounts and passwords stored in the workgroup information file for the workgroup you joined.
Exit Microsoft Access.
Restart Access, open a database, and then log on as a workgroup administrator (a member of the Admins group).
Create a group account.
How?
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 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, 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 the new group.
How?
To complete this procedure, you must be logged on as a member of the Admins group.
1. Start Microsoft Access by using the workgroup that contains the user and group accounts.
  You can find out which workgroup is current or change workgroups by using the Workgroup Administrator.
2. Open the database.
3. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Accounts.
4. On the Users tab, enter in the Name box the user you want to add to a group.
5. In the Available Groups box, click the group you want to add the user to, and then click Add.
  The selected group is displayed in the Member Of list.
6. Repeat step 5 if you want to add this user to any other groups. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to add other users to groups.
Note You can add users to this group or delete them at any time.
Repeat steps 1 through 5 for each workgroup that will share the same secured database. In step 4, make sure to type exactly the same case-sensitive group name and personal ID (PID) as you did for the group account you created in the first workgroup.
Open the secure database you want to share between the workgroups and assign permissions to the new groups.
How?
You can add or remove permissions for an existing database and its objects, or you can set what permissions are used when you create new objects.

Assign or remove permissions for a database and its objects
1. Open the database.
  The workgroup information file in use when you log on must contain the user or group accounts that you want to assign permissions for at this time; however, you can assign permissions to groups and add users to those groups later.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Permissions.
3. On the Permissions tab, click Users or Groups, and then in the User/Group Name box, click the user or group that you want to assign permissions to.
4. Click the type of object in the Object Type box, and then click the name of the object to assign permissions for in the Object Name box. Select multiple objects in the Object Name box by dragging through the objects you want to select, or by holding down CTRL and clicking the objects you want.
  Note Hidden objects aren't displayed in the Object Name box unless you select Hidden objects on the View tab of the Options dialog box (Tools menu).
5. Under Permissions, select the permissions you want to assign, or clear the permissions you want to remove for the group or user, and then click Apply. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to assign or remove permissions for additional objects for the current user or group.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for any additional users or groups.
Notes
- Some permissions automatically imply the selection of others. For example, the Modify Data permission for a table automatically implies the Read Data and Read Design permissions because you need these to modify the data in a table. Modify Design and Read Data imply Read Design. For macros, Read Design implies Open/Run.
- When you edit an object and save it, it retains its assigned permissions. However, if an object is saved with a new name, it is now a new object, and so has the default permissions defined for that object type rather than the permissions of the original object.
Assign default permissions for new tables, queries, forms, reports, and macros

Default permissions can be assigned only by an administrator account (a member of the Admins group in the workgroup in which the database that contains the object was created) or by the owner of the database.
1. Open the database.
2. On the Tools menu, point to Security, and then click User And Group Permissions.
3. On the Permissions tab, click Users or Groups, and then in the User/Group Name box, click the user or group that you want to assign permissions to.
4. Click the type of object in the Object Type box, and click <New object> in the Object Name list.
5. Select the default permissions that you want to assign for that object type, and then click Apply. Repeat steps 4 and 5 to assign default permissions for additional object types for the current user or group.
6. Repeat steps 3 through 5 for any additional users or groups, and then click OK when you have finished.
Note Some permissions automatically imply the selection of others. For example, the Modify Data permission for a table automatically implies the Read Data and Read Design permissions because you need these to modify the data in a table. Modify Design and Read Data imply Read Design. For macros, Read Design implies Open/Run.

Note You can also have a workgroup administrator at a remote location add the same group to his or her workgroup information file by providing the administrator with the exact case-sensitive group name and PID you used to create that group in your workgroup information file.