I mean both variants.
The cases where the importing table and database table are identical in structure (same number of fields and identical field names) and are simply appended are rare in my practice.
A real import looks like that only some fields are taken into account during the import, whereby fields have different names. It will often be the case that only new records have to be imported - a double import can sometimes occur, but no one needs duplicates, neither does index errors.
Therefore, for me, a linked table is already a table that can be used in queries (update and append) and that can make a lot of modifications in the queries.
An import can also quickly appear in such a way that the data in the import table has to be divided into several tables in a database schema, including the generation of the necessary keys for the relationships. That means using queries again. All this also works with a linked table.
A previously imported table that does not fit into the existing database schema is only a bad intermediate step, because it is a temporary intermediate step and then waste data that has to be disposed of. I would only consider such a preliminary import to be useful if fields in this table are indexed specifically for performance - or out of necessity because a linked table does not work or cannot be created.
Linking a table during an import is therefore my first choice and quite important.
The cases where the importing table and database table are identical in structure (same number of fields and identical field names) and are simply appended are rare in my practice.
A real import looks like that only some fields are taken into account during the import, whereby fields have different names. It will often be the case that only new records have to be imported - a double import can sometimes occur, but no one needs duplicates, neither does index errors.
Therefore, for me, a linked table is already a table that can be used in queries (update and append) and that can make a lot of modifications in the queries.
An import can also quickly appear in such a way that the data in the import table has to be divided into several tables in a database schema, including the generation of the necessary keys for the relationships. That means using queries again. All this also works with a linked table.
A previously imported table that does not fit into the existing database schema is only a bad intermediate step, because it is a temporary intermediate step and then waste data that has to be disposed of. I would only consider such a preliminary import to be useful if fields in this table are indexed specifically for performance - or out of necessity because a linked table does not work or cannot be created.
Linking a table during an import is therefore my first choice and quite important.