The Access Workbench Command Line Switches + Scheduling

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The Access Workbench Command Line Switches

The following table lists the command-line options that can be used in The Access Workbench.

These can be used to open the Workbench from either a shortcut file or Windows Scheduled Tasks that you find in the Control Panel.

A text box will now appear in the main menu. Here you can type any of the following comands. The commands will be used when the Open button is next clicked.

Server License Note: Options marked with a Ω may require a workbench server license to run on a Windows 2000 or 2003 server at some stage in the future.

Option	Effect
/wb2000 /wb2002 /wb2003 /wb2007	Set the default Access executable that is used to open files that are in Access 2000 or Access 2002/2003 format. Obviously Access 2000 is wb2000, Access 2002 or XP is wb2002 and Access 2003 is wb2003. Read More
/wbExcl	Selects the Exclusive checkbox in the Workbench so that you can open a database in Exclusive mode if possible..
/wbBackup	Ω Selects the Backup checkbox in the Workbench. The next time that the database doesn't have any users, the database will be copied to the backup folder.
/wbbackupzip	The database will be immediately copied to the backup folder and stored in a Zip compressed file.
/wbCompact	Ω Selects the Compact checkbox in the Workbench. The next time that the database doesn't have any users, the database will be compacted to a file of the same name.
/wbDecompile	Selects the Decompile checkbox in the Workbench so that you can decompile a database when all the users leave the database.
/wbCompile	Selects the Compile checkbox in the Workbench so that you can compile a database when all the users leave the database.
/wbNoWrkgrp	Starts the database so that Access opens using no workgroup file. Generally this will be a workgroup file stored in the my documents area for each user. The default Access user name Admin will be used for the account.
/wbAutoExit	Ω This option will change the behaviors of the Exit button so that the Workbench closes automatically when Who's On Compacts, backups, compiles etc all finished.
/ro /nostartup /decompile	These standard Access command-line switches are supported by the Workbench command line interpreter. Read more
/compact	Ω This standard Access command-line switches are supported by the Workbench command line interpreter. Read more

Shortcut and Schedule Examples

Startup the workbench using Access 2000, compact the database and then close down the Workbench.

"c:\program files\vb123\workbench.exe" C:\tmp\northwind.mdb /wb2000 /wbCompact /wbAutoExit

Startup an Access 97 file (Workbench will work that out), backup and compact the database and then close down the Workbench.

"c:\program files\vb123\workbench.exe" C:\tmp\northwind.mdb /wbbackup /wbCompact /wbAutoExit

Now you can add the shortcuts above to your computers Scheduled Tasks. To do this, open the Control Panel and Choose Task Scheduler. Set up a new job and copy the shortcut line into the Run line as shown in Figure 1 below.

Figure 1 - Set up a Workbench Scheduled Tasks

Now enter the actual Schedule as shown in Figure 2

Figure 2 - Set up the schedule

If you run the job every day, set the maximum amount of time the workbench stays open to a few hours in case not everyone logs off.

Figure 3 - Limit the maximum amount of time the workbench stays open.