Can a MS-Access front-end be opened simultaneously from different computers if stored on a shared network drive?

Question

I have a quick question: if both my MS-SQL back-end and MS-Access front-end are installed on a shared network drive, can the front-end be opened from different computers and the data still be synced correctly on the server? I am asking because we are having more employees located in different buildings. If possible, it would be easier to manage than walking everywhere to install the front-end.

Two people opened the front-end today and put in clinical cases simultaneously. When they opened it again, everything seemed to have synced, but could something wrong be happening? I am not sure.

Answer 1

if ... my ... MS-Access front-end [is] installed on a shared network drive, can the front-end be opened from different computers and the data still be synced correctly on the server?

What you seem to be describing is more than one concurrent user directly opening the same copy of a front-end file, eg, one stored in a shared folder like

\\servername\sharename\path\to\frontend.accdb

If so, then that is extremely bad practice . Every user must have their own private copy of the front-end file on their local hard drive. That is what the other answer meant when they said

you only need to have them copy the front-end file to their computer - there's no installation required

In your question you said two users apparently opened the same copy of the front-end and made changes to the data, and nothing bad seems to have happened. They were lucky. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't, but in my experience it's not a matter of if it will cause problems, it's a matter of when .

Answer 2

Yes it should work OK. If the network connection between the front end and back end database will work from the user's individual computer, then you only need to have them copy the front-end file to their computer - there's no installation required.