The Who's On button will refresh the list of users that are currently logged into the database and display them on the Users tab as shown in Figure 1 and view details on each computer using the database.  The other purpose of the Who's On button is to display the list of the users and to start up any of the database actions (such as compact or backup) Workbench Help File that are selected in the checkboxes immediately below the Who's On button (Figure 1).

TIP: To refresh this list quickly, press the F5 key on your keyboard.

     
Figure 1 - The Who's on button will show the current computers and workgroup users using a database and display them in the Users tab. In this example, when everyone closes the database the database will be backed up and then compiled.

Users Tab

There can be upto 5 columns displayed in the Users tab as follows. The main ones are

Me  - An astrix will display in this column if the computer / person is actually yourself.  The workbench session will not generally show in this list.

Computer - This is the actual computer name where the Access session is taking place. 

Access Login - When you startup the Access database you are always going through a workgroup prior to opening the database.   If you are not prompted, then you are using a database where the default user is Admin and you are logging in as this as default.  If you think that you have a database secured by a workgroup and you have Admin users in this list, then it is possible that your database security has not been setup correctly. 

Computer Notes - Computer notes are descriptions that you apply to individual computers. You can type anything you like about a computer like Email address or Ph number or Taste in Coffee. Computer Notes are added by selecting the Users Tab, selecting the Computer in the List Box and clicking on the Computer Notes button (see Figure 3).  You simple add the text for the Computer in the text box and if you want you can use this text box to retrieve information such as email addresses and other details.
 

Figure 3 Computer Notes and button


Figure 4 Adding a computer note ~ You can also use this description to grab email addresses etc

Hidden Columns These only show up on rare occasions

There are 2 hidden columns called "skipped LDB" and "Suspect exit".  These will only be visible if they are showing a database error. They are

Skipped LDB shows users if they have avoided using the locking database. 
Suspect Exit shows users where their Access session ended abruptly.    This can happen if a computer loses power or other such unnatural events.

Copy User List To ClipBoard

On the Right-Hand-Side of the Users tab you will see a button with a paper-clip on it. This will copy the name of the database, the date and time and the current list of users connected to the database to the clip board. Open Excel, Word or Notepad and paste the information in for an instant report.

Action Checkboxes

Backup Checkbox

If you selected the Backup check box and the Who's On button finds that no one is using the database, the database will be compacted and backed up to your designated backup folder.

Compact Checkbox

If you selected the Compact check box and the Who's On button finds that no one is using the database, the database will be compacted.

Decompile Checkbox

One of the undocumented features of Access is the Decompile command. This will remove all the compiled code from your database. Sometimes it will also remove quite a considerable amount of junk from the database. Generally this is probably only worth doing once a week if you are developing heavily and it is only recommended for developers rather than a production database.

Note: We sometimes use decompile to move MDB databases around by email as it can save space and time in the emails.

Compile Checkbox

When the Who's On button finds that no one is using the database (including yourself), the database will be opened, a module will be opened in design mode and the database will be compiled for your. If all the VBA code is already compiled, the Workbench will tell you this. If a compile error is encountered, the database will stay open and you can rectify this error. When the database is compiled correctly it will be closed at the end of the process.

Note: For Access 97, a compile and save all modules is undertaken and for Access 2000 onwards, compile all is the method undertaken.

Note: You can also view who is using the database using the menu View ~ Users connected to the current database.  This will switch to the Users tab and press the Who's on button for you as part of the same process.

Note: You can also compact, backup, decompile and compile the database using the Database menu options.  These will also try the Who's on button for you as part of the same process. If the database is in use, the appropriate checkbox will remain selected.

Secure Workgroups

Some Access databases can be secured by a workgroup.  If that is the case with your database, you will need to setup details about the workgroup, adminstrator username and its passwords before you can retrieve a list of users/computers.  Read more about setting up your workgroup file.  This message is shown at the bottom of the screen in Figure 4.   This message will also occur if the database is secured using a database password.

Figure 4 - If your database is secured by a workgroup file, you will see this message until you setup a workgroup alias in the Options section.

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 The Access Workbench Help File  - The Who's On Button