Chapter 3: Importing Access Files

Chapter 3: Importing Access Files Transcript

Any file to be analyzed first needs to be imported into IDEA. I’m going to start with a Microsoft Access database called Customer. Regardless of the source file’s type – whether it is a text file, an Access database or even a PDF, importing is always done through the Import Assistant.

To launch the Import Assistant, select Desktop on the Home tab. Next, select the appropriate source file type from the list - in this case Microsoft Access - and then use the browse button beside the file name to select the actual file to be imported.

I want the Customer file so I click that and then click Open. In the Import Assistant, click next. For Access files, you need to select which tables in the database you want to import. This sample file has only one table but if there were more, they would all be listed here.

Select Database1. In the Character Field Options section, leave the Scan records for field length check box selected. This tells IDEA to scan the first 10,000 records to determine the field length. If this checkbox is deselected, the field length will default to 255 characters. Accept the default output name which is the same as the original file name and click OK to finish importing the file into IDEA.

Note that when the file is imported, the name takes the format of Filename – Tablename so in this case, the Access file is shown as Customer-Database1 in the File Explorer.