Converting a Standalone table to a Linked table

[bearcub]

Is there a way in Access to convert a standalone table to a linked table (without re importing it as a linked table)?

I have several tables that I would like to link from Excel To Access. Ordinarily I would import the Excel tables as linked tables but I was wondering if there a quick way of doing this without importing the new tables, delete the old tables, renew the new tables and then update my queries with these linked tables.

This brings me to another question.

If I import a linked table then delete the static table and then rename the linked table with the table name that was just deleted would it break any queries that I have that associated with them?

If this is the case, I'll have to go to the queries and add these new linked tables to the queries.

I hope this isn't confusing

In other words, I want to convert static tables to linked tables. My fear is that if I delete the static tables and replace them with the linked tables (but using the same names as the ones that were just deleted) I will have to reset the queries with the new tables even though they have the same name as the previous one.
Thank you for your patience,

Michael

 

[xenou]

As far as I know, if you replace your tables in any way with new tables that have the same name (linked or otherwise - or even replace with queries that have the same name, for that matter) then everything will still work fine ... if ... that is ... the field names are all there and the column data is compatible with the previous data types, and all of those important things.

 

[bearcub]

That's good to know. I am not changing the table structure or any of the data, I am just linking it to Excel. So, I'm have to import all these tables, delete the non linked tables and then renamed the link tables with the same name.

I was hoping this would be the case, thank you for the info.

Michael

 

[Micron]

If I import a linked table

Importing is importing. Linking is not importing. When you link, the source data can change and the new data is available when the db opens again. AFAIK, the updated data is available each time you access the linked table. This is the major reason for linking. Your queries/forms/reports don't concern themselves about whether the table is linked or not. If the linked version is the same (as pointed out) no problem. 1 thing you can do for peace of mind: don't delete the old, rename it until you're happy with the result.