I have recently had reason to convert an Access MDB file to CSV for use in a mysql database. I don't like the idea of an Access database on a production server and Microsoft has been agreeing since 1999.
As it turns out it is actually very easy, there is GPL software available for the job at http://mdbtools.sourceforge.net/. If you are using Ubuntu or Debian you can use apt-get install the mdbtools package.
To get the list of tables, you run the following command:
mdb-tables database.mdb
You can then get a CSV version for each table using:
mdb-export database.mdb table_name
You can also convert the mdb into a format required by MySQL. First you must get the put the table schema into the database using the following command:
mdb-schema database.mdb | mysql -u username -p database_name
You then import each table by running:
mdb-export -I database.mdb table_name | sed -e 's/)$/)\;/' | mysql -u username -p database_name
Sed is required as mdb-export doesn't put a semi-colon at the end of each insert statement, which MySQL definately doesn't like.
After running this, you can now be rid of the horror that are Access MDB files :)
About Office 2007 Microsoft Office 2007 (officially called 2007 Microsoft Office system) is the most recent version of Microsoft's productivity suite. Formerly known as Office "12" in the initial stages of its beta cycle, it was released to volume license customers on November 30, 2006 and made available to retail customers on January 30, 2007. These are, respectively, the same dates Windows Vista was released to volume licensing and retail customers. Office 2007 contains a number of new features, the most notable of which is the entirely new graphical user interface called the Fluent User Interface (initially referred to as the Ribbon UI), replacing the menus and toolbars that have been the cornerstone of Office since its inception. Office 2007 requires Windows XP with Service Pack 2, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1, or Windows Vista.