Week in Review: September 20, 2025

Just Published

^{This section includes videos, articles, and (occasionally) open-source project updates from the past 7 days.}

Articles

^{*Article descriptions generated by Claude-Sonnet-4.}

Access Forever
- AEK 27 -- Forever Young, by Karl Donaubauer: Announces the upcoming German Access Developers Conference (AEK27) with nearly 90 registered participants and highlights the agenda covering new Access features, AI integration, security, and performance topics.
John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
- Get a list of all Fonts installed on a device using the EnumFontFamiliesEx Windows API Function: Demonstrates how to use the Windows API EnumFontFamiliesEx function with VBA to enumerate and retrieve information about all fonts installed on a device.
Jonathan Halder (Access JumpStart 2.0)
- Text File Import / Export Recipe code: Presents the form code and user interface implementation for a reusable text file import/export system in Microsoft Access.
- Text File Import / Export Recipe code part 2 (AppProcedures module): Details the helper functions in the AppProcedures module that handle file selection dialogs and conversion processing for the text file import/export system.
- Text File Import / Export Recipe code part 3 (implementing iImportFile): Shows how to implement the iImportFile interface in a class module to handle specific file format translations using VBA.
Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
- Microsoft Adds Native RegExp to VBA Ahead of VBScript Deprecation: Microsoft introduces a native VBA RegExp class in version 2508 as VBScript faces deprecation, though other components like FSO and Scripting.Dictionary still lack replacements.
Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
- Add Marker Lines to Modern Charts: Explores two methods for adding target or marker lines to Microsoft Access modern charts - using combo charts or line control overlays - with detailed implementation techniques and their respective advantages and disadvantages.
- Access Bug Summary - Sept 2025 (In Progress): A compilation of Microsoft Access bugs reported in September 2025, including crashes with ADO/ADOX code, missing context menu items, and RegExp lookahead issues.
- Enroll for Windows 10 Extended Security Updates: Windows 10 users can now enroll in Microsoft's Extended Security Updates program to receive security updates until October 2026, available for free through OneDrive backup or Microsoft Rewards, or for $30.
- RegExp Added to VBA Library with Version 2508: Microsoft has integrated RegExp classes directly into the VBA library starting with Office Version 2508, eliminating the need for external VBScript references and addressing developer concerns about VBScript deprecation.
Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
- Throwback Thursday: September 18, 2025: A weekly retrospective featuring past articles on using abbreviations in lookup tables to improve signal-to-noise ratio in Access applications.

Videos‌

Access User Group Recordings (YouTube channel)
- SQL Server with Access Academy (Part 1) (45:08): with Juan Soto
- Version Control for the Sole Developer - Why it Matters (01:07:40): with Adam Waller
Colin Riddington [Isladogs] (YouTube channel)
- Add Marker Lines to Modern Charts (14:47)
Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
- Quick Queries #58. (16:02): What's the Maximum Number of Simultaneous Users Microsoft Access Can Handle
- Microsoft Access Fitness Database:
  - Part 36 (14:12): Creating a Custom VBA Function for Log Date Assignment
  - Part 37 (12:27): Finding the Most Recent Entry on a Specific Date
  - Part 38 (19:31): Managing Combo Box Events with TempVars and AfterUpdate

New to Me

^{This section includes content I discovered this week that has been around for a while.}

Nothing new this week.

Upcoming Access User Group Events

^{NOTE: Only English-language user group meetings with scheduled guest speakers or topics are listed. For a complete list of upcoming events, visit the}^{Access User Group event calendar}^{. Not all links below include the start time and time zone. For that information, check out this handy reference guide from Access MVP Maria Barnes over at AccessForever.org:}^{Access User Groups 2025}^.

[September 30, 2025] Crystal Long & Adrian Bell: Using Custom and Built-in Functions in Expressions
[October 01, 2025] Marcus Dieterle: High impact – Custom dialogs and mini-notifications
[October 28, 2025] Colin Riddington: A Masterclass in Access Security
[November 5, 2025] Ynte Jan Kundersma: Using Power Automate with Office Apps
[December 03, 2025] Adolph Dupré: Using Twilio for Texting from Access
[February 04, 2026] Aleksander Wojtasz: Creating an Advanced Data Grid Integrated with Access
[March 04, 2026] Chris Arnold: Using Disconnected (In-Memory) ADO Recordsets in Access

Access Roadmap

There were no changes made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2025-09-13) and this week (2025-09-20).

The roadmap was last updated the week of August 9, 2025.

Listed below is a snapshot of the official Access Roadmap.

"In Development", "Rolling Out", and "Launched" are Microsoft terms that I pulled straight from the public roadmap.

In Development

SEP 2025: Add zoom slider magnification to Microsoft Access: Access will add magnification slider (10% to 500%) in lower right of the application, similar to the feature in Word, PowerPoint, and Excel. It will also be keyboard accessible and available on the ribbon.
SEP 2025: Modernize Access Forms and Reports to work well on Large Format Monitors: Remove the 22-inch size limit and modernize Access forms and reports work well on large format monitors and provide responsive behavior for different form factors.

Rolling Out

None listed.

Launched

NOTE: Dates listed are rollout start dates.

SEP 2024: Integrate Monaco framework to improve SQL editor capabilities: The Monaco Editor is the fully featured code editor from VS Code with standard IDE functionality such as syntax highlighting, IntelliSense, and autocomplete.

Upcoming End-of-Life Dates

Here are the key end-of-life dates Access developers should track:

2029

[JAN 09] Windows Server 2019
[OCT 09] Access 2024 | Outlook 2024
[OCT 09 (or later)] Classic Outlook
- See "Edit 8/12/2024" at top of this article for official clarification that "both perpetual and subscription [i.e., MS 365] versions of Outlook will be supported until 2029"
- Support for Classic Outlook is guaranteed at least through 9 Oct 2029; it may be extended beyond this date

2030

[JAN 08] SQL Server 2019

2031

[OCT 14] Windows Server 2022

2033

[JAN 11] SQL Server 2022

2034

[OCT 10] Windows Server 2025

Ongoing

Microsoft 365 (with subscription)

Date TBD

Complete removal of VBScript from Windows OS (Microsoft Announces the Death of VBScript)