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pythonms-accessodbc32bit-64bitpyodbc

Is it possible for 64-bit pyodbc to talk to 32-bit MS access database?


I am using 64-bit python anaconda v4.4 which runs python v3. I have MS Access 2016 32-bit version. I would like to use pyodbc to get python to talk to Access. Is it possible to use 64-bit pyodbc to talk to a MS Access 2016 32-bit database?

I already have a number of python applications running with the 64-bit python anaconda. It will be a chore to downgrade to 32-bit python.


Solution

  • I'm not a python expert, but just to clarify some possible misconceptions... The Access database file is not 32-bit or 64-bit. Both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Access use the same database file format.

    You do not need the MS Office Access application to connect to or use an Access database file. You can download the Access Database Engine which includes ODBC drivers. The most recent 2010 version has both 32-bit and 64-bit versions. You just need to specify the proper driver in your connection string to use the 64-bit driver. Again, this does not speak directly to connections in Python, but perhaps you can get it to work directly using 64-bit drivers.