A shared Access application does not require every user to open the same copy of its forms and queries. A split design keeps tables in a back-end database while each user runs a local front end containing the application objects and links to those tables.

This preparation concerns a conventional desktop Access database on a managed local network. Confirm the database owner's intended location, compatible Access versions and a usable backup. Arrange a period when users will not change data during the split; otherwise the newly created backend can miss intervening changes.

Establish the two file roles

Microsoft's Database Splitter workflow starts from a local database copy. Under Database Tools, Move Data, choose Access Database, then Split Database and specify the backend location. The original copy becomes the front end. Microsoft recommends a UNC network path rather than a mapped drive letter because users' drive mappings can differ.

Record the exact backend path and the front-end revision. A file with a plausible name in an old test folder is not interchangeable with the accepted data source. Preserve a clearly isolated test backend for rehearsal.

Give each user an appropriate local front-end copy and inspect its linked-table destination before normal use. Do not give each person a separate independent backend if the task requires one shared current dataset.

Test shared data through separate front ends

In the isolated trial, create a distinctive harmless record through one user's front end and inspect it through another. Check the same identifier and values, then verify an authorised edit through the normal application workflow. This tests the data destination, not just whether both users can open a form.

Microsoft recommends avoiding opening Access database files from OneDrive or a SharePoint document library because local download/upload behaviour can create multiple copies and unexpected results. A synchronised file is therefore not the shared-backend arrangement described here.

Before adoption, agree who maintains the backend, how backups are taken and how front-end revisions are distributed. Keep the link path and accepted trial with that handover. Recheck links after moving the backend; opening a familiar-looking application window does not prove that it points to the current shared records.

Sources: Microsoft: splitting an Access database; Microsoft: Access sharing methods.