When I use a ASP script to retrieve the data from a Access MDB file, I got an error: collating sequence not supported with the specified file format.
Actually, it happened when I move the site to a new server.
The solution was to go to the File tab in 2010, click the options link and set the sort order for new databases to ‘General – legacy’.

mdb-sorting-option


Then compact and repair the database file. Tools > Database Utilities > Compact and Repair Database
After above procedures, the error is gone.

David Yin

David is a blogger, geek, and web developer — founder of FreeInOutBoard.com. If you like his post, you can say thank you here

10 Replies to “How to fix the error of collating sequence not supported with the specified file format

  1. This did not fix my issue. When I open the Compact and Repair functionThe sort order is already on General – Legacy.

    I’m trying to compact a database written in an older version (suspect 2007) in 2013 and when I select save to the “Compact To…” database I get the error.

          1. I resolved my issue by creating a new MDB file with the setting set for General-Legacy and importing all the objects from the old MDB to the new MDB. The only downfall was I had to recreate import/export specs.

  2. This did not fix my issue. When I open the Compact and Repair functionThe sort order is already on General – Legacy.

    I’m trying to compact a database written in an older version (suspect 2007) in 2013 and when I select save to the “Compact To…” database I get the error.

          1. I resolved my issue by creating a new MDF file with the setting set for General-Legacy and importing all the objects from the old MDF to the new MDF. The only downfall was I had to recreate import/export specs.

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