Overview - Python Connector for Microsoft Access

Overview

Python Connector for Microsoft Access is a connectivity solution for accessing Microsoft Access databases from Python applications. It fully implements the Python DB API 2.0 specification. The connector is distributed as a wheel package for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

Direct connection

Python offers a standard pyodbc module, which you can use to access Microsoft Access databases through the Microsoft Access ODBC Driver. This method has several disadvantages:

• Microsoft offers Access ODBC drivers only for the Windows platform.
• Users might experience issues opening databases created in the latest versions of Microsoft Access.
• Users have to install either Microsoft Access or Microsoft Access Database Engine Redistributable on their machine.
• By default, Microsoft Access is a single-user database system. An Access database cannot be opened concurrently in multiple applications.

Our connector provides the following advantages:

• A direct access to a database without installing Microsoft Access or Microsoft Access Database Engine Redistributable on the user's machine
• Support for all major desktop platforms: Windows, macOS, and Linux
• Support for the .mdb and .accdb file formats, including databases created in the latest Microsoft Access versions
• A read-only multi-user mode to enable several users to read data from a database simultaneously

Compatibility

• Python versions from 3.7 to 3.12
• Microsoft Access 97-2021
• SQLAlchemy
• pandas
• petl

Supported platforms

• Windows 32-bit and 64-bit
• Windows Server 32-bit and 64-bit
• macOS 64-bit and ARM (Apple M1 and M2)
• Linux 64-bit

Note: For details on supported OS versions, check the compatibility page of your Python version.