Personal GDB(.mdb) import tool

[RobertGraham]

Since ArcGIS PRO currently does not have a native method for reading data from Microsoft access databases(.mdb) we need a tool at least to import the data into a file geodatabase.  It would be best to natively read the personal geodatabases instead of importing.  

Many companies still use the personal geodatabase because of the ease of development in MS access for forms and reports.  

Please vote up this idea.Microsoft Access (.accdb) Support in ArcGIS Propug list #pug puc

[xingchenc]

Any update？This ability is long overdue, you can't expect users to have ArcMap at their hands when they occasionally got some data in mdb format.   

[Wayne_Rennick]

@RobertoRossi @SSWoodward   Next month my IT department will uninstall ArcMap from my computer. So, this tool will be useless. I can search our network and find every *.mdb file and run it through this script over the coming weeks but even then, I'm sure to find an old Personal Geodatabase in an archive somewhere that will need to be accessed. 

While this tool is nice, you (ESRI) have to make a tool that works in ArcGIS Pro or as a stand alone tool. If this functionality exists in other extensions (Data interoperability Extension?) then that should be leveraged to provide this for users without that specific extension (if you want to say that ArcGIS Pro has feature parity with ArcMap)

[Bud]

Merged from a separate idea.

If I understand correctly, there isn't an OOTB geoprocessing tool in ArcGIS Pro that can import a personal geodatabase feature class to a file, mobile, or enterprise geodatabase.

Could such a tool be added to ArcGIS Pro?

Related: Migrating Data: Tools to migrate a personal geodatabase to a file or mobile geodatabase

Use Case: Soon, no one in my organization will have ArcMap. But inevitably, some more pgdbs will come out of the woodwork that will need to be migrated. What to do then?

[PeterGavette]

@MikeJensen I know I'm not the only one out there in the classic Catch-22 with personal geodatabases I can't open in Pro! Every option I've seen relies on ArcMap/ArcCatalog. Our organization no longer has access to either. I'm currently downloading QGIS, which I do have access to, to convert.

Does ESRI not have a solution to convert outside of ArcMap/ArcCatalog? I tried this solution but it didn't appear to me that the spatial data was available, just the ability to read the tables...?

[xingchenc]

@PeterGavette  They would agrue it can be done via ArcGIS Pro Data Interoperability Extention. Though you have to pay a small fortune just for this easy task.

[Wayne_Rennick]

Is there a walkthrough of how to use the Data Interoperability Extension to import a personal geodatabase? Like @PeterGavette I no longer have access to ArcMap so any personal geodatabases I forgot to convert are now impossible to open. I do have the Data Interoperability Extension, but it's not intuitive how to use it. I shouldn't have to spend more than 2-minutes converting data from this format, especially if I'm already paying for the extension.

If someone would develop a tool to use it to convert a personal geodatabase that would be great. 

[Allen]

I agree. Need a tool that can be used within Pro.

[AlfredBaldenweck]

Related: Conversion Tool: Convert from archaic formats to m... - Esri Community

[Alex_at_Exprodat]

You can access MDB files directly in ArcGIS Pro. These steps (from Problem: Unable to Add Data from Personal Geodatabases in ArcGIS Pro) worked for me:

1. Create a new OLE DB connection in ArcGIS Pro: Work with OLE DB connections—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation
2. For the provider, I selected "Microsoft Office 12.0 Access Database Engine OLE DB Provider"
3. In the Connection tab, enter the full file path to the .mdb file, for example: C:\Users\arexroad\ArcGIS\PersonalGeodatabase.mdb
4. For the user name and password, I left both empty. This only applies if the database requires user credentials.
5. In the Advanced tab, I also set access permissions to "Read" only.

Test the connection to make sure it succeeds. Once added, I can view all of the database tables in the .mdb directly in the Catalog pane/view under Databases. The tables can be added to my maps and used in joins/relates/geoprocessing.

According to FAQ: Is It Possible to Connect to a Microsoft Access (.Accdb) Database in ArcGIS Pro? these steps should also work for .accdb database files.