That depends on what you mean by update. All the pieces have to work together, and every piece may or may not have an effect on other pieces. You have to think carefully with such integration. Absolutely make and keep a master copy before you start.
John

I am not editing the tables in the master program where the data is going into and is being used to operate a business. What i am doing is creating additional and or improving queries, forms, and reports in a separate but identical program except for the current data going into the working program.  When I have made changes to the forms and etc. I copy and paste them into the working program which works but would like a better way if possible.

I usually just make a copy of the original object so it is easy to restore if I mess up. A must if it is a major update.

I do make a lot of backups. Apparently what I am doing, coping and paste is the only way?