Force Shut Down is an example database that shows how to get multiple front-end Microsoft Access applications on a network to automatically close. When you have an application with a front-end and back-end and you have multiple users with the front-end open, you may find it useful to kick them off (i.e.: Close) the application so you can perform back-end maintenance. One way is to walk around the office, find each computer with the applicaiton open, and manually close it. Force Shut Down offers an alternative.

With Force Shut Down, you simply check a box bound to a field in a linked table. Each front-end application checks this field value each minute to see if it is time to automatically close. When it is discovered that the field value is True, a warning message appears for one minute, prompting the end-user to save any unsaved data. One minute later, the application automatically closes.

So, when you need to perform back-end maintenance while users are active, just check the box, wait at most 2 minutes, and the back-end database will be free.

Force Shut Down is available for Access 2007, 2003, 2002, 2000, and 97.