How to Recover Deleted Records in Access Tables

In this post, you will find tips you can use to resolve data loss caused by accidental deletion of records on access tables.

Human error is one of the leading causes of data loss. While some errors are easy to fix others are not. For instance, when you accidentally delete records on Access tables, it is not easy to recover them. This is because MS Access does not provide users with a Access recovery mechanism to recover deleted records. The only option you have to type the information afresh. This is okay if only one or two records are involved.

However, if you are dealing with hundreds of records, recreating the data from scratch can be a painstaking task. Also, the risk of data loss is high. Therefore, you need to get creative to get your records back.

1. Use your database backups

The main reason why people back up data is to protect against data loss when disasters such as the accidental deletion of files occur. It is also important to note that if you want to avert data loss, make an effort to keep your backups up to date with production data as possible.

In the case of deleted records on Access tables, restore the affected database using your backup. If the backup copy is up to date, then you are good to go. However, if there are missing records, you can opt to type them afresh. While this may not be the optimal solution, it reduces the workload of filling the records anew, especially if the backup is recent.

2. Use a specialized MS Access database repair and recovery tool

If you don’t have a backup for your database or if it’s corrupt, then you need a different approach to get your records. One of the best chances to salvage your database records is to use third-party software that is optimized to repair and recover MS Access databases. For example, DataNumen Access Repair is one of the best tools for repairing and recovering Access databases in the market. When compared with top applications in its class, it comes top with a success rate of 93.34%.

To use the DataNumen Access Repair tool, purchase a user license from the company website and install the application on your computer. It is important to note that while a demo version of this software is available, only the full version will allow you to access the recovered data.

Now, open the application and go to the ‘Options’ tab. Look for the checkbox labeled “Recover deleted records” and tick it.

Go back to the ‘Repair’ tab and select the affected database as the source file. Also, enter the name of the output file and specify where you want to save it. It is also advisable to specify the format of the input and output files. This quickens the recovery process as opposed to letting the software autodetect these values.

Once this is done, tap the ‘Start Repair’ tab. You can monitor the progress bar to estimate when the Access recovery process will end. When this happens, you will get an alert message stating that the target database was repaired successfully. Open the repaired database and confirm whether the records have been recovered.