ACC2000: Binary Field Appears Corrupted in Database from Earlier Version

When you enable or convert a database that was created in an earlier version of Microsoft Access in Access 2000, any fields with a Binary data type have the appearance of data corruption, showing extended characters throughout.

Binary data appears as odd symbols and characters in Access 2000; however, the data is not lost. This is expected behavior when an application is capable of supporting Unicode. To view the ASCII equivalent of the binary data, use the earlier version of Access to place the data in a Text or a Memo field. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Use the earlier version of Access to open the database.
2. Follow steps 1 through 3 of the "Steps to Reproduce Behavior" section to create a table named tblTest.
3. Open the tblTest table in Design view.
4. Add a field named TextEquiv, with a data type of Memo.
5. Save and then close the table. Do not add a primary key.
6. Create a new query based on the tblTest table.
7. Add the TextEquiv field to the first Field cell in the query design grid.
8. On the Query menu, click Update Query.
9. In the Update To cell, type [Fld2]
10. Run the query, and click Yes when you are informed that you are about to update n number of rows.
11. Close the database. Save the query if you want.
12. In Access 2000, open the database and open your table in Datasheet view. Note the content in the TextEquiv field.

In earlier versions of Microsoft Access, a Binary field displays its values in an ASCII format, and you are able to edit the binary value.

In Access 2000, a Binary field displays its values in a Unicode format. The data appears as odd symbols, and although Access 2000 still allows you to edit the binary value, doing so is not recommended.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Use a version of Access earlier than Access 2000 to create a new database, and then save the database as Db1.mdb.
2. In the Db1.mdb file, type the following DDL SQL Syntax into a new query:
   CREATE TABLE tblTest (Fld1 Counter, Fld2 Binary);
3. Save the query as qryTest, and then run the query.
4. Open the tblTest table in Datasheet view, and then in the Fld2 field, type the following:
   http://www.microsoft.com
5. Close the table and the database.
6. In Access 2000, open the Db1.mdb file, and when prompted, click either Convert or Open.
7. Open the tblTest table in Datasheet view and note the corrupted appearance of the data in the Fld2 field.