Free online TSV to MDB converter

What the TSV format is

TSV stands for tab-separated values. Each line represents a record, and tab characters separate fields; the first line often contains column names. TSV files are common for exports from spreadsheets, laboratory systems, reporting tools, and command-line data-processing programs.

Microsoft Excel, LibreOffice Calc, database tools, and custom scripts can create TSV files. They are plain text, so they can be opened in a text editor, but they do not contain tables, indexes, relationships, data types, or validation rules.

What the MDB format is

MDB is the database format used by Microsoft Access through Access 2003 and supported for compatibility by later Access versions. An MDB file can contain tables, queries, forms, reports, indexes, relationships, and macros.

Use MDB when a legacy Access application or another program specifically requires the older Access database format. It is also useful when tabular data needs indexes, typed columns, saved queries, or multiple related tables instead of remaining a flat text file.

How to actually convert TSV to MDB

Using Microsoft Access

1. Make a copy of the source file and confirm that every record uses tabs consistently. Remove explanatory lines above the header row.
2. Open Microsoft Access and create a blank database in the MDB format. In the database creation dialog, select Access 2002-2003 Database (*.mdb) as the file type. If an MDB file already exists, open it instead.
3. Choose External Data → New Data Source → From File → Text File.
4. Browse to the data.tsv file and select Import the source data into a new table in the current database.
5. In the import wizard, select Delimited, set the delimiter to Tab, and enable the option indicating that the first row contains field names.
6. Review each column. Set numeric columns to an appropriate numeric type, date columns to a date/time type, and long descriptions to a long-text type. Set a primary key when the file contains a unique identifier.
7. Finish the import, assign a table name, and open the table in Datasheet view to check row counts, values, and column types.
8. Use Database Tools → Compact and Repair Database after verification if the file will be distributed or used regularly.

For a conversion without installed database software, the 101convert.com website can convert the file online for free. Upload the TSV, select MDB as the output format, run the conversion, and download the resulting database. Avoid uploading confidential or regulated data to an online service.

Quality and compatibility limits

A TSV contains values only, so the conversion cannot recreate relationships, indexes, forms, reports, queries, or Access-specific settings that were not present in the source. It normally produces one table.

Check character encoding before import. UTF-8 is usually the correct choice; selecting the wrong encoding can corrupt accented characters or non-Latin scripts. The import wizard may infer unsuitable types when a column contains mixed values, such as numbers combined with labels or dates in several formats.

Tabs inside quoted fields, embedded line breaks, duplicate column names, blank headers, and inconsistent row lengths can cause shifted or rejected fields. Inspect the original file and test several records after conversion.

MDB has a 2 GB file-size limit, and older Access versions have stricter limits on field types and table design than modern ACCDB databases. If the resulting database must work with a particular legacy application, match its required table name, column names, primary key, date format, and maximum field lengths.