Error message when you use Access 2003 to try to open an .mde file that you created in Access 2007: "This database is in an unrecognized format"

You create a compiled database (.mde) file in the Access 2002-2003 database format in Microsoft Office Access 2007. When you use Microsoft Office Access 2003 to try to open the .mde file, you receive the following error message:

This behavior is by design.

When you save a database as an .mde file, the .mde file compiles all modules, removes all editable source code, and then compacts the destination database. Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) code will continue to run. However, the VBA code cannot be viewed or edited. Because of the changes that Access 2007 makes to a database when the database is saved an .mde file, .mde files cannot be converted to a file format from an earlier version of Microsoft Access.

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Start Access 2007.
2. Click the Microsoft Office Button, and then click New.
3. Click Blank Database, type DatabaseName in the File Name box, and then click Create.
4. Click the Microsoft Office Button, click Save As, and then click Access 2002-2003 database.
5. In the Microsoft Office Access dialog box, click Yes to confirm that you want Access 2007 to close the objects.
6. In the Save As dialog box, type DatabaseName in the File Name box, and then click Save.
7. On the Database Tools tab, click Make MDE.
8. In the Save As dialog box, type DatabaseName in the File Name box, and then click Save.
9. Start Access 2003.
10. On the File menu, click Open.
11. In the Open dialog box, locate the DatabaseName.mde file that you created in step 7, and then click Open.
12. In the Security Warning dialog box, click Open.