You receive a "Project Is Unviewable" error message while opening a Visual Basic for Applications project in Microsoft Access

When you try to open a Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) project in Access 2000, and that project was created by using Office Access 2003, you may receive the following error message:



When you open the same VBA project by using Office Access 2003, you receive a similar error message. The specified error may occur even though the project is either digitally signed or is locked by another user.

To work around the problem, follow these steps:

1. Start Office Access 2003.
2. Open the database that has the problem that was described in the "Symptoms" section.
3. Press ALT+F11 to switch to the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor.
4. Add a digital signature to the database. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. On the Tools menu, click Digital Signature.
   2. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click Choose.
   3. In the Select Certificate dialog box, select one of the available certificates, and then click OK.
      
      Note If the Select Certificate dialog box does not contain any certificates, you can create your own certificate, and then perform the previous steps.
   4. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click OK.
5. Remove the digital signature from the VBA project. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. On the Tools menu in the Visual Basic Editor, click Digital Signature.
   2. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click Remove.
   3. Click OK.
6. Close the Visual Basic Editor, and then close Access.
7. Open the database again in Office Access 2003.
8. Press ALT+F11 to switch to the Visual Basic Editor.
9. Close the Visual Basic Editor, and then close Access.

Note Now if you open the database in Access 2000, you can open the VBA project.

This problem occurs when you remove the digital signature from the database that was created in Office Access 2003, and then you open the database in Access 2000.

To avoid the problem, close the database after you remove a digital signature from the database. You must reopen the database in Office Access 2003 before you can open the database in any other version of Access.

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

1. Start Office Access 2003.
2. Open the Northwind sample database in Access 2000 file format.
3. Press ALT+F11 to switch to the Visual Basic Editor.
4. Add a digital signature to the database. To do this, follow these steps:
   1. On the Tools menu, click Digital Signature.
   2. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click Choose.
   3. In the Select Certificate dialog box, select one of the available certificates, and then click OK.
      
      Note If the Select Certificate dialog box does not contain any certificates, you can create your own certificate, and then perform the previous steps.
   4. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click OK.
5. Close the Visual Basic Editor, and then close Access.
6. Start Access 2000.
7. Open the database as you did in step 2.
8. Press ALT+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
9. In Project Explorer, expand Project.
   
   Note You receive the following error message:
   
   
   Project is unviewable
   
   
   You expect this behavior because the database is digitally signed.
10. Close the Visual Basic Editor, and then close Access.
11. Open the same database by using Office Access 2003.
    
    Note When you try to open the database, you receive a security warning. Click OK to open the database.
12. Press ALT+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor.
13. Remove the digital signature from the VBA project. To do this, follow these steps:
    1. On the Tools menu of the Visual Basic Editor, click Digital Signature.
    2. In the Digital Signature dialog box, click Remove.
    3. Click OK.
14. Open the database by using Access 2000.
15. Press ALT+F11 to open the Visual Basic Editor, and then try to expand the project in Project Explorer.
    
    Note Even though no digital signature is defined for the database, you receive the error in the "Symptoms" section.
    
    If you open the same database in Office Access 2003, and then you try to open the VBA project, you receive a similar error message.

For additional information about how to create your own digital signature, type Create your own digital certificate in the Office Assistant of Office Access 2003, and then click Search to view the topic.