Regardless, you should split your db into front-end and back-end components,
if not for the ease of updating (but there are a number of other reasons too).

Your situation is a little special. Normally, people access a split db over
a network so you can create a launch tool (bat, vbs,...) to check that they
have the proper version and if not get it before opening.

I would say you can send updates by e-mail, but then you have security
issues with mdbs (and other file types) as attachments and then you are
relying on users to perform the update and to do so correctly. This just is
not a good idea altogether. In your case, perhaps you could create a vbs, to
check whether they are connected to your server, if they are then run a
check, otherwise simply open the version you have.
--
Hope this helps,

Daniel Pineault
http://www.cardaconsultants.com/
For Access Tips and Examples: http://www.devhut.net
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"ThickMike" wrote:

Sorry for repeating this - previous question was in the wrong forum.

I am writing an application in Access 2000 which travelling employees will
load onto their laptops. As they do not have the Access program loaded, they
will use Runtime.

I anticipate that revisions will be needed over time. Updates might be
changes to forms & macros, new forms & macros, data changes, extra fields in
tables (must not overwrite existing data)

The employees are not techie people and applying an update must be as easy
and straightforward as possible.

Is there a standard way of coping with Updates to the program?

Would I be better off splitting the database into front and back ends?