Connecting to a file or personal geodatabase from the Catalog window

A file geodatabase is a collection of files in a folder on disk. Personal geodatabases are stored in Microsoft Access databases (.mdb files), which are also stored in a folder on disk. Therefore, to connect to a file or personal geodatabase, you create a connection to the folder that contains the geodatabase.

Steps:

1. If you have not done so already, create a connection to the folder. To do this, click the Connect To Folder button on the Standard toolbar. Alternatively, you can right-click the Folder Connections node and choose Connect Folder.
2. Navigate to the location of the folder on the local or network computer.
3. Click OK to establish the folder connection that contains the file or personal geodatabase.

   The folder connection is created under the Folder Connections node in the Catalog window.

4. Expand the folder connection.
5. Click the file or personal geodatabase to which you want to connect.