This information can be obtained from the administrator of the database to which you want to connect. Examples of connection information include server location, database name, logon ID, password, and various ODBC driver options that describe how to connect to the data source. Examples of data sources are SQL Server, Oracle RDBMS, a spreadsheet, and a text file. In this articleĪ data source is a source of data combined with the connection information that is required to access that data. The procedure steps might vary depending on the specific database products and ODBC drivers used. This article contains general information about ODBC data sources, how to create them, and how to connect to them by using Microsoft Access. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is a protocol that you can use to connect a Microsoft Access database to an external data source such as Microsoft SQL Server. Access for Microsoft 365 Access 2021 Access 2019 Access 2016 Access 2013 Access 2010 Access 2007 More.