MDB File Viewer .mdb & .accdb · macOS

Microsoft Access files · macOS

MDB File Viewer

Open an Access .mdb or .accdb file on your Mac. Check the tables first, then export what you need to CSV or SQLite.

Download on the Mac App Store See how it works

One-time purchase · Works offline · Read-only · macOS 12+

MDB File Viewer open on macOS with a Microsoft Access database loaded and every table listed

The problem

A .mdb file arrives, and macOS has nothing to open it with

Access never made it to macOS. Double-click an .mdb file and Finder asks you to choose an app. None of the usual ones can read it.

You can start a Windows virtual machine. You can also upload the database to a converter. Neither is appealing when you only need a few tables.

The upload is often out of the question. Old Access files tend to come from clients, councils, old servers or former colleagues. The data may not be yours to send anywhere.

MDB File Viewer reads it on your Mac.

How it works

Open the database, read the tables, take out what you need

The app never writes to the source file.

  1. 1

    Open the database

    Choose an .mdb, .accdb, .mde or .accde file. If an encrypted .accdb needs a password, the app asks for it. You then get a list of tables with their row and column counts.

    Password prompt for an encrypted .accdb database
  2. 2

    Read a table without exporting it ★

    Open a table and scroll through every row and column. A table with 600,000 rows opens in a couple of seconds. You can inspect the data, but you cannot edit the source.

    A table open in the viewer, scrolled through hundreds of thousands of rows without exporting
  3. 3

    Pick what to export

    Tick the tables you need, or select them all. The row and column counts stay visible while you choose.

    Table picker showing each table in the Access database with its row and column counts
  4. 4

    CSV or SQLite

    Export to CSV with comma, semicolon or tab separators. Add a UTF-8 BOM if the file is going into Excel. Or put every table into one SQLite database.

    Choosing between CSV output and a single SQLite database, with separator and encoding options

Features

Built for the awkward databases too

Privacy

Nothing leaves your Mac

  • Read-only. The app opens the source database without writing to it. A failed export cannot alter the original.
  • Offline. No uploads, no account, no tracking, no analytics.
  • One-time purchase. Buy the app once. There is no subscription or licence server.
Export finished with the source database reported as untouched and no network access used

Guides

Guides for Access files on a Mac

What these files contain, why macOS cannot read them, and the ways around it.

Common questions

Can I open an .mdb file on a Mac without Microsoft Access?

Yes. MDB File Viewer reads the database directly and exports its tables to CSV or SQLite. You do not need Windows, a virtual machine or an Office licence.

What is an .mdb file?

It is a Microsoft Access database. One file can hold the tables, queries, forms and reports for an entire application. .mdb is the older format. Access replaced it with .accdb in 2007. The app opens both.

Does it open password-protected databases?

Yes, for encrypted .accdb files. The app asks for the password when you open the file, then handles it like any other database.

Will it change my original database?

No. The app never writes to the source file. If an export fails, the original database is unchanged.

Is there a free MDB viewer for Mac?

mdbtools is free and runs on a Mac from the command line. Many other free options are Windows apps or web converters. A web converter means uploading the whole database, which may rule it out for client or company data.

Can it export to Excel?

Not as .xlsx yet. Export to CSV and open that file in Excel. Turn on the UTF-8 BOM option for accents and non-Latin text.