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I want to use Microsoft Access database with the Microsoft Flow and PowerApps.

Is it possible to do? If yes then how?

Thanks.

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5 Answers 5

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PowerApps and Flow are cloud services and has to be able to connect to the data source. There is no Microsoft Access database as-a-service and gateway does not support this kind of on-premise data source.

PowerApps use Common Data Service for Apps as a storage and Flow use connectors to connect to data sources.

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You can link your Access table to a SharePoint list and then use the SharePoint list in Power Automate (Form) and Power Apps.

External data (Ribbon) -> Import & Link -> New Data Source -> From Online Services -> SharePoint List

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In actual fact yes, you can! But it's not a direct link. As Lukas mentioned, Flow and all 365 services are Cloud based. However, there is a magical connector called SQL Server!

You will need to turn your PC into a Windows Server. Or buy a server. That's a given and cannot be avoided.

Next go to your Office 365 account and go to the Connectors. link yourself to the Flow SQL Connectors. Download, install on your server and test it.

Of course you'll need SQL Server on your server. However, there is another magical product, that's free called SQl Server Express 2017. Download the advanced features version, install and again test from within your server.

Download MS SQL Server Management Studio 18.1 or greater, and use it to import your tables from Access into SQL Server. I doubt your database is bigger than 10GB, which is the limit of SQL Server Express. Most businesses are using databases less than 5GB in size, so you should be ok!

You cannot and should not continue to try and connect or use Access really. You're going to have to invest the time exporting all the tables, queries, reports, and macros into SQL Server using tools, SQL queries, Reporting Services, and Stored Procedures respectively, so there is a learning curve.

ps: If your buy the full SQL Server version, you get a feature called Linked Server, which allows you to connect Access databases, and other databases to your SQL Server database. That would be "possibly" the only way to link your Access database with SQL Server. Costly option.

Here is a similar question and similar answer.

Good luck!

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I often use Access and link it to my SharePoint list that are also used in PowerApps and Flow. I started in Access so I can build queries and reports much faster there than I an anywhere else.

It will be read-only in access unless you do an append query but even then it will not write back to the SharePoint list (unless I just haven't figured out how).

But I use Access to monitor a lot of my apps. Stuff like I know an item should not be on list 2 without also being on list 1 so I run queries to check that type of stuff. I also have one app that they enter the data into a phone app (which saves on SharePoint) and they need to be able to print a final report and they do it in Access.

So I guess Yes, but not how you are used to using it.

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It is not possible to port MS Access forms over to PowerApps, but there are workarounds. You can create an app that connects to MS Access tables.

You can then run your usual queries, reports, etc. within MS Access. The best way to do this is to use a SharePoint list.

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