A while back I needed the ability to compare two Access database schemas. I searched a bit, and ended up finding that, for me, the best way to achieve this was to generate a couple of XML Files detailing the schemas for the two databases, then open them up in my favorite file compare tool (I use NotePad++, but BeyondCompare or some other tool would also work).

I thought I’d share the project here. It’s up on GitHub – https://github.com/jmreynolds/MdbSchemaToXml.

It’s fairly simplistic… It’s a console app, and requires editing the Program.cs file to change a line or two with the path to your Access File.

[gist id = “b17c8b67cf8254936482”]

Just change the pathToData and pathToOutput parameters to the appropriate locations.

Hope this helps someone else out!