Access 2003 makes it easy to import information in numerous formats from other programs. If the information is still being actively maintained in another program and you want to bring it into Access to work with it, you can link your Access database to the information in its original program.

You can import entire Excel worksheets, or a named range from a worksheet into a new table or an existing table. You can also import specific fields from a worksheet or range.

You can use the Import Wizard to import delimited and fixed-width text files into your Access database.

You can easily import one or more of the standard Access objects: tables, queries, forms, reports, pages, macros, and modules.

You can import data from certain versions of dBASE, Lotus 1-2-3, and Paradox into Access. You can choose to import information as it is and manipulate it in Access, or you can move it into some other program, such as Excel or Word, and manipulate it there before importing it into Access.

You can import a document saved in HTML format by another program into Access. If you attempt to import an HTML document into Access, it will parse the document and identify anything that looks like structured data. You can then look at what Access has found and decide whether or not to import it.

You can import Extensible Markup Language (XML) files into Access. XML consists of data and a schema, which describes the structure of the data. Programs that export to XML might combine the data and schema in one file, or might create two files. If the program exports two separate files, you will need both files to import both the data and the structure into Access.

You can export the information in your Access database in a variety of formats, depending on the object you are trying to export.

You can leave data in another program and link to it. You can also copy and paste data from your database into other programs. A quick way to share the information in an Access database with Word or Excel is through the OfficeLinks button on the toolbar. You can merge the data in the table with a Word mail merge document, publish the table in a Word document, or export the table to an Excel worksheet.