Setting up multi-user access for Microsoft Access AYS databases

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If you are using Microsoft Access AYS database files, multiple users at your location can open and work with the same database across your network. You will need a multiple seat license to open the database with multiple users concurrently. Please contact us if you would like to upgrade to obtain this ability.

Note

Some basic information is provided here for configuring Windows-based sharing. At Your Service can not provide support for your network setup. Please consult your local IT.

At Your Service .ays files are based on the Microsoft Access file format, and are completely self-contained. You can move the file to any location that is shared with other users on your network.

  1. If you have been working with the database file on your workstation’s desktop, or in the My Documents folder, you may wish to create a new folder on the root of your C:\ drive containing just the AYS database (.ays file extension) and its autobackup files (.ay1, .ay2, and .ay3 file extensions).
  2. Share the folder on your network. You can use this article to learn how to do this on Windows 7. For Windows 10 and 11, you can see information here. Please follow the instructions under “How do I share files and folders over a network now?”.
  3. Grant the users on your network Full Control on this folder. They will need rights to create, modify, read and write files in this folder.
  4. On the other workstations, open File Explorer and locate and expand “Network” in the left pane. You should see the machine hosting the database in the list. Click on it and you will see the newly created share. Open this and double-click on the .ays file, and it will open in the AYS application.

You can use any file-sharing server solution, Windows, Linux or NAS solutions have been tested and work well.

Warning

We strongly advise against using cloud-based syncing storage. Storing and accessing AYS databases on cloud-based services like Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive or others is not supported, and will likely corrupt your data. This includes the Windows 7 “Offline Files” feature.

These services typically work with a local copy of the database on each user’s workstation and upload the changed copy to the cloud server. As a result, the cloud version of the file will be conflicted as soon as two users make changes to the file.

  1. Create a share on the server and grant permission for all of your network users to read, write, create and modify files in the share’s folder.
  2. On each workstation, open File Explorer and locate and expand “Network” in the left pane. You should see the machine hosting the database in the list. Click on it and you will see the newly created share. Open this and double-click on the .ays file, and it will open in the AYS application.

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