office 365
355 TopicsMicrosoft Office 2019 Now Available – Comparing 2019 vs 2016 vs 365, New Features in Access & Excel
Microsoft Office 2019 is out! Microsoft started the roll-out today of Microsoft Office 2019 for Windows & Mac – with major updates to Access, Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, Project, Visio, and Publisher – to commercial volume license customers. Microsoft is following up with Office 2019 releases to consumers and other business customers, as well as SharePoint / Exchange / Skype / Project Server 2019 releases, in the coming weeks. Office 2019 provides a subset of features Microsoft has added to Office 365 over the past three years. As Office 2019 is a one-time release, Office 365 is still the better choice with not only far more features (Co-Authoring, etc) unavailable in Office 2019, but also far earlier access to them than on-premises, non-subscription Office 2019, etc. editions. Speculation has been that Office 2019 may be the last perpetual license (on-premises / non-subscription) release of Office, so that Microsoft can focus in on its Office 365 subscription offerings. However, Microsoft has responded in one case that there is likely to be one more perpetual license release after this one. Either way, Microsoft Office 2019 product pages even describe Office 2019 as a "one-time release" with Office 365 being needed to gain access to new features after that. It may also be that there are fewer editions available for Office 2019 than for Office 2016. Whether you move to Office 2019 or 365, it's suggested you don't delay doing so, as Office 2016 cloud support will be dropped in 2020, with Office 2016 installs barred from connecting to Microsoft's cloud-based services, including hosted email (Exchange) and online storage (OneDrive for Business), after Oct. 13, 2020. New in Office 2019 Word – text-to-speech, improved inking & accessibility, focus mode, translator, Learning tools (captions & audio descriptions), @ Mentions PowerPoint – Morph transitions, Zoom, SVG, 3D model, play in-click sequence, 4k video, @ Mentions Excel – Power Query (Get & Transform) enhancements, Power Pivot included with all editions, new functions & connectors, publish to Power BI, AI-driven Excel Insights for chart suggestions, new charts, @ Mentions Excludes Co-Authoring, new Data Types like Stocks, and some other new features only available in Office 365 Outlook – @ Mentions, Office 365 Groups OneNote – OneNote for Windows 10 (Modern App included with Windows) has replaced OneNote desktop app (though OneNote 2016 will be available via Volume License Install tool) All Office apps – Ribbon customizations and roaming pencil case Microsoft Access - including the many updates we've seen recently such as: Modern Charts New Linked Table Manager Dark theme Big Int Salesforce & Dynamics connectors Other Recent Developments with Microsoft Access It's especially exciting to see all the new features, growing user base and communities, new integrations, and development team responsiveness seen with Microsoft Access of late. Inclusion on the Office templates page Which I hope will become permanent soon SQL Server Migration Assistant (SSMA) updates ODBC and OLE DB driver updates – for optimized use and new feature support for SQL Server, Azure SQL and other back-ends databases Power BI support (via On-Premises Data Gateway) Considering On-Premises Data Gateway is shared with PowerApps, hopefully that means we may see PowerApps support too in the future New & growing Access conferences and user communities: New Access Developers' Day in Amsterdam DevCon in Vienna, AEK in Germany, UKAUG in UK, PAUG in Portland, Access Day in Redmond, Access Madrid in Spain Presence at Microsoft Ignite and other conferences Access User Groups (AUG) webinars and local chapters (Chicago, Denver, Madrid, Hertfordshire, etc.) Access now included in most Office editions Included in nearly all (besides Online-only) editions Access in Office 365 Home, Personal, Business, Business Premium, ProPlus, E3, and E5 editions Access in Office 2016 Professional and ProPlus editions With MS Access having been added to most Office editions, presumably it will likewise be available with most Office 2019 editions now too. It's great to see these features available to Office 365 subscribers (or even sooner if opt-in for Insiders program) now being made available to others with Office 2019, and I look forward to the many more new advancements with Microsoft Access and Office to come. Links to More Info about Office 2019 You can find out more about Office 2019 with the following articles, FAQs and product pages: Office 365 vs. 2019 Editions Office 2019 Commercial FAQ Microsoft's Office 2019 Announcement Office 2019 and Discontinuing of Office 2016 The Verge release article ZDNet release article Endgadget release article VentureBeat release article TechSpot release article -- Dan Moorehead Founder & Chief Software Architect PowerAccess (www.PowerAccess.net) "Empower Microsoft Access – with new Tools | VBA Framework | PowerGit | Power Query-like PowerSQL | VSTO-like .NET API | CodeGen | Excel Formulas & Functions | Consulting | Excel ➜ Access ➜ SQL Conversion Tools"Solved411KViews8likes21CommentsMoving Away from MS Access
The organization I work for is wanting to move away from Microsoft Access databases where possible, and we have started exploring what tools our current Access databases could be moved to. Is there a standard for what works best (Powerapps, Sharepoint, etc)? What have you found to be a good resource for guidance on this topic? Thanks!122KViews2likes81CommentsAccess freezes when I copy a record
Windows 11 Office 365 Access Suddenly, when I copied a record in the database Access froze as if it didn't have enough memory. I tried compact and repair, repairing Office, uninstalling and reinstalling Office 365, exporting the database into CSV and importing back as text into a new table in a clean database, after that didn't work, I reduced the number of entries by 80% and imported as text into a fresh table. It still froze as soon as I control-C for 45 to 50 seconds each time. A completely different Access database is experiencing a shorter delay after each control-C Has anyone encountered this error or know a reputable contractor who specializes in such file specific issues?Solved46KViews5likes112CommentsTrouble finding the trigger behind the "Unrecognized database format Access" error message?
We have multiple local users on my domain (around 6), accessing a Access Front End database split. For most of the days, things go well, but sometimes, after some user updates some register, the .mdb file becomes corrupt, and everybody else using Access on their local PCs get the "Unrecognized database format" error message (see picture). So I have to restart the server, erase the .ldb temporary file and then click on "Compact and restore database" option under Database Tools tab. That fixes the problem. Microsoft 365 Access Build 16.0.3.... But what's the trigger? Is it a limitation of Access? Is there any way I can prevent this from happening? Thanks in advance!Solved33KViews0likes9CommentsMicrosoft Access System being discontinued?
Hello, I am looking for a way to create a database and all of my research is leading me to wanting to build a Microsoft Access based database. It seems as though this program would fulfill all my needs for my project, however, whenever I bring it up to colleagues, or search online for news, I keep seeing that the system is going to be discontinued and that I should avoid it, as I will soon have to find an alternative anyway. Can you confirm if this is true or not? I am having trouble finding a press-release, or news article from Microsoft directly about this topic. Thank you kindly.32KViews0likes15CommentsFuture of Microsoft Access: PowerApps|CDS|VSTO|VBA|Flow|JS|VS|.NET|Graph Cloud|Mobile|Web|Developers
Access & Office Development Roadmap & Suggestions In addition to summing up recent Access updates & resources (including those from Access), I've compiled some suggestions & questions for the Access & Office Dev Platform teams (ranging from PowerApps & Common Data Service integration to VSTO Add-in dev, VBA & VBE) here. I've also recapped the recent Microsoft reorg changes along with thoughts on potential implications for Access & Office. Also, if at all possible, any glimpse the Microsoft Access and Office Developer Platform (VBA, VBE IDE, Office.js, VSTO) teams could provide us with into what they are considering (even if not confirmed yet) as possible future enhancements, fixes and data connectors for Access and improvements for Access developers (automation/macros/add-in development) for Access 2019 / Office 2019 (expected Q2 2018) onward would be greatly appreciated. Promising Trend of Access Updates vs. Cloud-first Focus & Dropped Web Support Considering, on one hand, the number of promising recent Access updates (summarized below, per Access Day) and, on the other, the deprecation of Access Web Apps (AWA & Access Services for Microsoft-hosted SharePoint Online going read-only by April 2 '18) and Microsoft's recent Cloud-first focus (PowerApps, Common Data Service, Azure) and Cloud vs. UX reorg. shakeup. Microsoft Reorganization (Cloud vs UX Shakeup) Implications Also, I'm wondering if anyone has any thoughts on possible implications of the just-announced Microsoft "Cloud vs. UX" reorgization on Access, Office development and Microsoft Office / Office 365 in general. Specifically, as I will detail in my next post, Microsoft has combined their 4 groups into just two groups, essentially splitting by Cloud vs. non-Cloud - a "Cloud & AI" group, including Azure, PowerApps, Power BI, Dev Tools/APIs, among other things vs. a "Devices & User Experience" group, including Office, Windows, Surface & Mobile. Recent Access Features & Updates I'd like to start off by recapping all the recent advancements we've seen with Microsoft Access, at Access Day and beyond. Considering all the features removed from Access in recent years and toying with removal of Access from most Office editions, it's really great to see that Microsoft ended up (after the user backlash) adding Access to almost all Office & Office 365 editions instead! More than that, its really incredible to see all the new Access updates, such as new Data Connectors (Microsoft Dynamics & Salesforce), Large Number (BigInt) support, an upcoming bringing back dBase support, Access Templates on Office.com (experimentally) and 32-bit SSMA release (with the SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access previously only usable with uncommon 64-bit Office installs). Also, I'm glad to see the Access Accessibility Updates (Screen reader, F6 navigation, high contrast, etc.), which even as I understand, helped lead to Microsoft receiving the USBLN Accessible product design award for tech enabling the over 1 Billion across the world with disabilities. Congrats to the Access, Office and Accessibility teams on that achievement! Access Team's Support & Updates I also very much appreciate the new content and support from the Access team. For those not familiar with all of it, that includes new resources under and Access Help Center with Docs and Video Tutorials, as well as Access Templates on Office.com and the attention the Access dev team is providing to Feedback & Suggestions on User Voice pages for Access and User Voice for Office Developer Platform (VBA, VBE, Add-in Dev), as well as all the activity in the the new Access blog and Access forums here. Upcoming Features for Access and Access Day Revelations I was exciting hearing about the upcoming support for New Chart types and R2 update of Access Redistributable 2016, all covered at Access Day 2018 by Access Program Manager Michal_Bar, as seen in her Access Day presentation video (thanks to ArmenS and his post on the new charts). Access Dropped from Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) for .NET Add-in Development However, there are a few things long-missing or rarely updated which I would love to see to simplify life for Access developers and enable better integration with or taking advantage of the latest, Cloud-focused Microsoft product and developer tool/API advancements. For example, I, and many others as seen in this LinkedIn discussion, would really like to see at least Access supported with VSTO for add-in development again, as well as modernizing development tools/APIs for macros/automation. Specifically, it would be great if at some point in the future we could see updates to the VBE / VBA IDE (eg. adding tabbed documents, both forward/backward edit navigation, etc. as missing most VS updates since forked from VS around VB6), updates to VBA language (which hasn't seen much in the way of updates since VB6 it was based on), Visual Studio use for VBA (for macro coding, debugging & edit-and-continue), Microsoft Flow automation (eg. using On-premises Data Gateway or VPN connection or OneDrive), Office.js API, and/or VB.NET / C# / .NET for macro coding. VBE (VBA IDE) Issues There are also long-standing issues with VBE (VBA IDE) like it being unable to handle multiple monitors with different resolutions without ghosting when resizing tool panels. And missing modern text editor features (let alone modern Visual Studio features) like Tabbed Documents, Forward & Backwards edit navigation/history, etc. We ended up seeing and dealing with this for example (in addition to encountering it all the time myself) even during the presentations at Access Day. Automation (Macro & Add-in Development) API Limitations For Add-in developers and VBA Macro/Automation developers, Access could really benefit IMO from adding events, like for OnAppExit, OnSave globally and for each object/window, access to multiple objects selected in Navigation Sidebar, defining hotkeys via code (vs AutoKeys), extend the Nav sidebar context menu - to name a few. I will likely post a compiled list of suggestions later on regarding Access and VBA/VBE Automation APIs. Documentation & Samples Missing However, developer docs and content is completely missing for Access from samples on Office Developer site and training videos at the Office Dev Center for Access, and Official Office Roadmap (which only has 3 entries for Access: Salesforce + BigInt as completed, and Dynamics 365 connector shown as still WIP/Still Rolling Out) as well as Office Add-in Development docs, Visual Studio Office Development docs and project templates in Visual Studio. Content missing from those last three places is likely due to Access being dropped entirely from VSTO for some reason, but even then there are other ways (eg. COM APIs, 3rd party wrappers, etc.) that could at least be mentioned there, or even include older VSTO docs. People are developing add-ins with Access, regardless of it being dropped from VSTO, but there is no documentation on how to do that. Making the Access Templates Experiment Permanent Also, Access Templates should definitely be kept permanently and shown to everyone all the time. As Michal had pointed out, Access Templates end up being shown randomly (for A/B testing) just for some users on the Office Templates site. However, after refreshing 2 dozen times, trying with a dozen Incognito sessions across several dozen sessions it took dozens of attempts to finally see it, so I'm not sure it's shown as often may be though. Cloud Data Connectors (Common Data Service and Graph) like Excel & other Office Apps Similarly, I would love to see Common Data Service and Microsoft Graph support (and maybe direct access to Power BI-embedded data) in Microsoft Access. As Juan Soto had pointed out, Excel and other Office and MS apps provide Common Data Service support, with just Microsoft Access as the one missing out. Access Web App "Replacement" PowerApps Supports Everything Except Access For other improvements beyond Access/Excel/Office Macros and Developer Tools/API, I'd really think it valuable for PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and Power BI Online (beyond just Desktop version, for Service / Premium / Report Server / Mobile / Gateway, and without import Desktop to Service hack) to provide direct support for Access databases. On-premises Data Gateway: Possibility for Using Access from PowerApps & Power BI for Web & Mobile It's frustrating not even being able to setup the On-premises Data Gateway (installed on local PC for "File System" access, shared by PowerApps and Power BI) to support Access databases in PowerApps - just Excel workbooks. Concerns Regarding Microsoft Priorities for Azure & PowerApps vs. Access However, considering how even Access Services (for SharePoint-Access integration via Access Web Apps (AWA) as well as earlier Access Web Databases) being deprecated and going read-only (April 1, 2018), I wonder how likely that might be that we get further Cloud/Web/Mobile features. Considering this and how Microsoft attempted to even remove Access from most Office editions recently, as well as their Cloud-first focus, it's a bit concerning. It seems like with Access being included in Office there is a lot less revenue to be made from it compared to billing monthly (and by usage) with PowerApps, Power BI, Azure, etc. I can understand Microsoft's business priorities there, but, considering Access is often used for prototyping databases for SQL Server and Azure SQL, as well as quick, end-user-editable front-ends for them, I think it would make more sense IMO to expand Access' integration with Azure and Cloud Services versus trying to drop it from Office editions and replace with PowerApps which can't even connect to Access (pushing use of Excel spreadsheets for data storage and queries instead, for file system connectors). There is little-to-no support for even connecting to Access Databases from PowerApps and Power BI and even OneDrive/Dropbox deployment not being feasible (unlike Excel, now with its real-time multi-user collaborative desktop editing enabled when deployed that way, let alone Excel Online deployment). Remaining Deployment Options: VPN File Shares & Remote Access (RDP, RemoteApps, Citrix) Considering this, the we are limited for multi-user deployment to Network Shares over VPN (not feasible if want clients or customers to be able to use, or access from home for many) and Remote Desktop (RDP - though RemoteApp is a pretty good option), or Citrix & other RDP-like options (now that Azure RemoteApp hosting is deprecated). Questions for Access & Office Dev Platform Teams To sum up, my primary questions (and suggestions) for the Access development team are the following: Is there any chance we may see Microsoft Access integration with PowerApps, Common Data Service, Azure, Microsoft Graph, Power BI Online, SharePoint, Office Online, On-premises Data Gateway, OneDrive, Dropbox and/or Microsoft Flow? Any other possibilities to simplify Web, Mobile, Cloud Drive (eg. making OneDrive feasible to use, like with Excel for multi-users), or otherwise simplifying Multi-User use and deployment for Microsoft Access? Is there any chance we could get Access added back to Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) for officially supported and documented (complete with Visual Studio project templates) for .NET Add-in development for Access, like with Excel and other office apps? Any possibility of updates to VBA, VBE IDE, or support for Visual Studio for VBA or C#/VB.NET for macro coding, or JavaScript (eg. Office.js), or even Microsoft Flow (eg. via Gateway, VPN, or OneDrive) for automation?Solved27KViews6likes6CommentsUsername from Office-Account with VBA (Access2016)?
I want to read the username of the current logged in Office account in MS Access 2016 with VBA (not Windows or network username). The logged in user appears indeed in the Office2016 applications respectively in the title bar at the top right. Environ (), etc. unfortunately does not help. As some users have different office accounts (partly for business and / or private) and change between these (eg due to access to your own OneDrive files). I would like the Office-username (account-name) for the user-specific representation of information in forms, queries, etc. I Have already found that the previously registered users will be added to the registry and are thus read, but which of these is the currently logged on? Thanks for your help22KViews7likes9CommentsWelcome to the Access Tech Community!
This is a place to share ideas, news, discuss the product, promote Access events and engage with Access MVPs. In this community you'll also find the Access product blog, where we share updates from the Access team, customer success stories and MVPs articles. If you have technical questions and would like to receive support, we recommend that you visit one of these active Access online forum geared towards support and/or Access development: Microsoft Answers: Answers.com MSDN Access for Developers Forum: MSDN Dev Forum UtterAccess -UtterAccess Stack Overflow: Stack Overflow LinkedIn - Professional Microsoft Access Developers' Network --The Access Team17KViews24likes32CommentsMigrating Access back end to the cloud
Hi. I am an amateur. Using Access 365, I have created a small Access database for a local charity and I would like it be usable by 3 or 4 people at once and so I think I need to get the back end (the tables) into the cloud. I have tried to set it up with Azure SQL, SQL Server and I've tried to use SQL Express as a stepping stone. But, in every case, the technology is impenetrable. I have downloaded endless software packages that I think the guys in India have recommended (although the language barrier is very difficult) so that I have installed MS Data migration assistant, MS SQL Server Express, MS SQL Server Migration Assistant for Access, MS SQL Server Tools 2018 and SQL Server Configuration Manager. Can anyone direct me to a step-by-step procedure, suitable for dummies, that can help me achieve this? Regards GrahamSolved16KViews0likes39Comments