Best way to read/write MS Access Database?

Questions
1

I just pitched a client on using N8N to automate a process that pulls data from their MS Access database, sends it to Docusign to get a signed PDF, and then writes back to Access. N8N is perfect for them because they can install it on site.

It didn’t occur to me that N8N doesn’t have a built in ODBC module until after I hung up.

What’s the best way to query data from Microsoft Access, process it in N8N, and then write back to Access? Am I going to need to use the code module to do this? Yuck. There must be a better way.

Thanks!
Lee

2

It looks like your topic is missing some important information. Could you provide the following if applicable.

  • n8n version:
  • Database (default: SQLite):
  • n8n EXECUTIONS_PROCESS setting (default: own, main):
  • Running n8n via (Docker, npm, n8n cloud, desktop app):
  • Operating system:
3

hello @Lee_S

Well, I suppose you have a “bingo” here.

n8n neither has an MS Access node, nor a DocuSign node. It only has some kind of ODBC with the node Extract from file and pure HTTP request node

4

I’m pretty much assuming I’m going to have to install an ODBC library for Javascript or Python and then use the Code module a lot.

But I wasn’t aware of an ODBC capability in the Extract from File module. Have you (or has anyone) actually used that?

5

I have used it and it works quite well to extract the table content from the PDF file

6

Right, but I’m trying to pull data from a Microsoft Access database, not a PDF file. That’s why I need ODBC. I don’t think extract from file does that.

7

That’s why I’ve said :slight_smile:

some kind of ODBC