Frequently Asked Questions
If you don't find the answer to your question, or if you continue to have problems after following the instructions below, please contact us at support@actualtech.com.
General
ODBC Manager is installed with the Actual ODBC drivers, and we recommend using it. ODBC Manager addresses several issues that exist in ODBC Administrator. Also, Apple discontinued including ODBC Administrator in Mac OS X "Snow Leopard" (it is now a separate download), so everyone will be transitioning to ODBC Manager sooner or later. However, you can continue using ODBC Administrator if it is available to you and you prefer to use it.
We recommend that you use the ODBC Manager application that is installed with the Actual ODBC Pack instead of Apple's older ODBC Administrator. ODBC Manager has the ability to authenticate Administrator access when it doesn't have permission to modify a file.
If you are not able to use ODBC Manager for some reason and if you are not able to save a System DSN, make sure you have read / write permissions on the /Library/ODBC folder.
Use the Finder to do the following:
1. Navigate to the /Library folder
2. select the ODBC folder
3. select the menu: File->Get Info
4. expand the "Sharing & Permissions" section and make sure your user account has "Read & Write" privilege (you may need to click on the lock icon in the lower right corner before you can change the privilege)
Yes - you can upgrade to a higher edition by visiting our Upgrade center.
In order to use MS Query on an Intel Mac, you will need to upgrade to MS Office 2011. MS Query 2008 is a PowerPC application, which means it needs Rosetta to run on an Intel Mac. Lion no longer includes Rosetta.
Once you have Office 2011, you will need to make sure you have the latest updates installed. MS Excel 2011 version 14.1.2 was the first update to include a native Intel version of MS Query. The latest update to MS Office 2011 is available here:
www.microsoft.com/mac/downloads.
NOTE: Excel 2016 uses a different internal query editor for creating SQL queries. MS Query is no longer used or needed with Excel 2016.
Excel 2016
Use the ODBC Manager application in the /Applications/Utilities folder to configure your DSN. Then use the iODBC Chooser in Excel to select your previously configured DSN and press OK to select your DSN. Do not press the Add or Configure buttons with the iODBC Chooser of Excel.
Excel 2016 does not support User DSN's. Instead, you will have to use ODBC Manager (in the /Applications/Utilities folder) to create a System DSN. You will then be able to select your previously configured System DSN with the iODBC Chooser dialog of Excel.
The latest versions of the drivers in the Actual ODBC Pack have been updated to correct an issue with our license keys with Excel 2016. Please download and install the latest Actual ODBC Pack from our website. Then re-start Excel and perform your query again. If you continue to have the problem, please contact us at support@actualtech.com.
The latest versions of the drivers in the Actual ODBC Pack are compatible with Excel 2016 and file-based databases. Please download and install the latest Actual ODBC Pack from our website. Then re-start Excel and perform your query again. If you continue to have the problem, please contact us at support@actualtech.com.
Excel 2016 is a “sandboxed” application, which limits its ability to access the file system. In order to follow OS requirements for sandboxed applications, the driver will display a dialog box asking you to confirm the location of your file-based database. The dialog is only displayed the first time a query is executed during an Excel session.
If you don't want to confirm your database file, you can move your database file to a location that is within the Excel sandbox. Our Actual ODBC Pack installer creates a special folder named “ODBC Documents” within the “Documents” folder when it detects that Excel 2016 is installed. When a file is located within this folder, the confirmation dialog is not displayed when running a query.
Please download and install the latest Actual ODBC Pack from our website. Then re-start Excel and perform your query again. If you continue to have the problem, please contact us at support@actualtech.com.
FileMaker External SQL Sources
By default, the driver installs in a non-expiring "demo mode". The demo mode has full functionality, except that it only returns the first 3 records from any query. This should let you verify that the driver will work for you before spending any money on a license key.
However, FileMaker Server does not function correctly when fewer than the total number of records are returned. For that reason, you must have a valid Server Edition license key when using the driver with FileMaker Server.
You can get a 30-day evaluation key by visiting our registration page.
You should install the 30-day key on your server. The driver will return all records for 30 days, and will then revert to the default "demo mode" until a key is purchased.
There is an issue with FileMaker Server where it does not display connection-related error messages generated by the driver. Instead, it just displays the password prompt with no error message or explanation at all.
You can resolve most connection-related issues by pressing the Test button on the Conclusion panel of the driver's DSN setup assistant (displayed when you configure your DSN using ODBC Manager). Once you have resolved any issues indicated in the test results, you should be able to connect using FileMaker.
Note: a valid Server Edition license key is required when using the driver with FileMaker Server. The driver will generate an error if an attempt is made to connect without a valid license key. Because FileMaker does not display error messages, it is not always obvious this is the cause of the problem.
A 30-day evaluation key of the Server Edition is available from our website.
FileMaker looks for the driver (and license key) on the machine where the FileMaker database is hosted. If the FileMaker database is hosted on FileMaker Server, then the driver needs to be installed and configured on the server (and FM Server will make all ODBC connections on behalf of the connected FileMaker Pro / FileMaker Go clients). If you open the FileMaker database locally in FileMaker Pro (without connecting to FileMaker Server), then FileMaker will look for the driver on your local machine.
So, you should make sure your System DSN is configured on the machine where your FileMaker database is hosted.
SQL Server
In most cases, you should just use the IP address of the server. You can use the name of the server if you are connecting to a remotely hosted database (such as Windows Azure).
You can configure the driver to automatically determine the port by pressing the Client Configuration button on the Connection panel (the panel where you specify if you are connecting to Microsoft SQL Server or Sybase). A dialog will be displayed that lets you select the "Dynamically determine port" checkbox.
If you are not able to connect by dynamically determining the port, then enter the port used by the instance using the Client Configuration button on the Connection panel of the driver DSN setup assistant.
You can determine the port used by the instance by using the Server Network Utility in the Microsoft SQL Server program group on the Windows server where your database resides. Select the instance name from the drop down list and select TCP/IP from the list of enabled protocols. Then press the Properties button and note the listed port number.
If you get this message after waiting more than 60 seconds, then you either have the wrong IP address for the server or the server is not reachable from your Mac. Use the Ping and Trace Route tools of the Network Utility application in the /Applications/Utilities folder to verify you can reach your server's IP address.
If you get this message immediately, then you either have the wrong port or the port is being blocked by the network equipment (such as a router or firewall). Use the Port Scan tool of the Network Utility application to verify your server is listening on the port you have configured, and the port is reachable from your Mac.
When you use the Port Scan tool to scan the default port 1433, you should see a message that says:
Open Port: 1433 ms-sql-s
NOTE: if the only message you see is "Port Scan has completed", then the server is not listening on that port, or the port is not reachable from your Mac! Contact your database administrator or network support staff to determine the correct port or to have the port opened on your organization's network equipment.
Finally, the latest service packs from Microsoft should be applied to the SQL Server. Your database administrator should be able to tell you whether the latest service pack has been applied. This is particularly important if the server is also concurrently running an instance of the Microsoft Desktop Engine (MSDE).
In most cases, you should NOT enter the server name in the server field. Instead, enter the IP address followed by the instance name in the server field, in the form "IP address\instance name".
If you are not able to connect by specifying the instance name, then remove the instance name in the server field. Instead, enter only the IP address in the server field. Then enter the port used by the named instance using the Client Configuration button on the Connection panel of the driver DSN setup assistant.
You can determine the port used by the instance by using the Server Network Utility in the Microsoft SQL Server program group on the Windows server where your database resides. Select the instance name from the drop down list and select TCP/IP from the list of enabled protocols. Then press the Properties button and note the listed port number.
MySQL
If you are sure you are using the correct user ID and password, then its possible that your MySQL database account has not been configured for remote access. Please see these instructions which detail how to setup your account so it can be accessed remotely.
If your hosting provider supports it, you can connect to your database using an SSH tunnel. See these instructions for more information.
If your MySQL server is configured to encrypt connections with SSL, you can connect with SSL encryption. See these instructions for more information.
You should download and install the latest version of the Actual ODBC Driver for Open Source Databases. Earlier versions of the driver were not compatible with MySQL 4.1 or later. The latest version of the driver is compatible with the latest Generally Available version of MySQL.
Oracle
We have an easy solution for this that requires doing the following:
1. launch the "Actual ODBC Pack" installer that you downloaded from our website
2. Press the Continue button until you get to the "Installation Type" panel
3. Press the Customize button
4. Click the "Extras" checkbox, which will select the "Oracle OID Error Fixer" option
5. Press the Install button
After installation completes, you should be able to successfully connect to your database.
Python
We recommend using the commercially-supported mxODBC module or the open source pyodbc module.
When using pyodbc, it is important to make sure the module has been built for the iODBC standard (unfortunately it is usually built using the incompatible unixODBC standard).
You can download an installer for the iODBC version of pyodbc from our website here.
The page also contains instructions for setting encoding options when connecting with pyodbc.
R Studio
In order to use R with our ODBC drivers, you will first need to make sure you are using R version 3.4.0 or later.
Second, you will need to install the RODBC package version 1.3-15 or later. NOTE: version 1.13-14 or earlier will not work.
Finally, when connecting to your database, be sure to use the odbcDriverConnect() function with the rows_at_time option set to 1:
ch <- odbcDriverConnect("DSN=your_dsn;UID=user_id;PWD=password;", rows_at_time=1)
Online Store
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