The ArchAngel is a complete File/Box storage organisation system.
It requires Microsoft Access (v97 or later).
Any modern PC should be powerful enough to accommodate the ArchAngel.


The system is split into two components:

  1. An Access database file named ArchAngelData.mdb that resides on your network server. This file is called the ‘back-end’.
  2. An Access database file named ArchAngel.mdb that resides on any PC that is required to use the system. This file is called the ‘front-end’. A ‘read-only’ version of the front-end is available that allows users to view data but not make any changes.
The front-end is linked to the back-end file. This link should not need to be re-created in normal use unless the back-end file is moved. Linking is a short procedure that any reasonably competent computer user can carry out. Your IT department will be capable of this. We will provide instruction as required.

ArchAngelData.mdb (the back-end) contains the data tables and should be backed up every day. All front-end files should be closed before backing-up the back-end (so please ensure that no-one leaves the ArchAngel running on their PC overnight). ArchAngel.mdb (the front-end) contains all the screens, reports and coding and need not be backed up since the contents of this file (apart from some temporary information which is re-created when required) do not change.

You may run as many copies of the front-end (i.e. ArchAngel.mdb) as you require. When copying a front-end file to a PC you should be able to place the file in any folder – but it makes sense to create a folder specifically for it. In order to operate the ArchAngel system on a PC it must have full permissions for the folder on the server that contains the back-end. The front-end will automatically link to the back-end (providing the back-end has not been moved).

Storage Capacity
For practical purposes, The ArchAngel system can manage any number of archived files/boxes. The actual storage limit is 2Gb of data per data file.

Number of Users
More important than storage capacity is the number of concurrent users. The system will have acceptable response times with 20 or fewer users. Higher numbers of users may well also find acceptable performance. (See below.) The practical limit for the number of front-ends that may be used concurrently is somewhere from 20 to 100 or so, depending on various factors (network speed, server speed, whether or not the front-end files are used for viewing the data or making changes …). As a matter of security we recommend that the purchaser limits data entry and editing to a single user. There are clear practical benefits from this and it also avoids any possible clash that might be caused by multiple users entering/editing the same data. I recommend that only a few (possibly just one or two) users are given the ‘full’ front-end and all other users have the read-only version. This prevents any inadvertent changes to your data. Note that multiple users may view the same data without any problem.