How to Save an Access 2007 Data Table as an HTML File for Publication on the Web

Publishing an Access 2007 database data table to the Web is a simple process of following a few steps. By publish, we mean that you will export the table to an HTML format so that a user or visitor can download the document and read it using a standard web browser such as Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox.

To make your database available to the world over the Internet, you have two choices. First, you can publish a single table or part of a single table by exporting the table or partial table to an HTML format and then upload the document to the Web. Alternatively, you can use SharePoint, a Microsoft technology, to publish your entire database to the Web.

Previous versions of Access allowed you to publish your entire database using Data Access Pages but this feature is not a part of the Access 2007 distribution. It is beyond the scope of this document to discuss use of SharePoint as an option to publish your entire Access 2007 database. Therefore, this article will walk you through the process of publishing just one table in your database to the Web.

click to enlarge

Click on the EXTERNAL DATA tab and then click on the MORE button located on the EXPORT portion of the Access 2007 Ribbon (see Figure 1). Here you can see a variety of files to which you can publish your data table.

click to enlarge

Check the box labeled EXPORT DATA WITH FORMATTING AND LAYOUT to preserve the look and feel of your data table in the HTML document. The second option in the list asks whether you want to open the HTML document after it is created. It is you choice whether to do this or not. Choosing or not choosing this option will not affect how Access 2007 will create or save the document

click to enlarge

The HTML OUTPUT OPTIONS window opens where you can make a few final choices about how the HTML document will be formatted (see Figure 3). Here you can select an HTML TEMPLATE or choose how to encode the HTML document when Access 2007 creates and saves the file. For now, leave the default options checked and click the OK button.

One more window opens and asks if you want to save the export steps you just walked through. If you will be using these same steps repeatedly, consider saving the steps to save yourself time later. Otherwise, click the CLOSE button and go to the location where you saved your new HTML document and check it for errors.

Your newly created HTML document is just like any other HTML document created by Expression Web, Word, Excel, or any other application capable of creating and saving HTML files. You can publish this table to the web using an FTP client or with any other program capable of publishing HTML files to a network or the Web.

Keep in mind that the table or partial table you just published to an HTML document is nothing more than any HTML table. This table has no special functions or parameters that can be changed. In fact, it is not unlike a table you could publish from an Excel 2007 Workbook. This table is for viewing only and cannot be manipulated, changed, edited, or deleted by any user viewing it over the Web.

Publishing Access 2007 content to the web is a simple procedure using the built-in export function found in the application. This export function allows you to create an HTML document from an Access 2007 data table. You can publish an entire table or you can choose which records or cells to publish to an HTML document. When finished, you have a standard HTML file that you can upload to any network including the World Wide Web.