Week in Review

Week in Review: March 7, 2026

Highlights include Monaco query editor fixes, group-wise ranking with class modules, message boxes with timeouts, and visual badges over the Access taskbar icon.

Mike Wolfe

Mar 7, 2026 • 6 min read

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-4.5.}

Official Access Blog
- Access fixes released in version 2602 (Build 19725.20126), by LindaLu Cannon: Microsoft releases fixes for the Monaco query editor, including disabled autoformatting for passthrough queries, corrected font sizing, and improved datasheet selection behavior.
a.p.r. pillai (Learn MS-Access Tips and Tricks)
- Group-Wise Ranking in Microsoft Access Using a Class Module: A reusable, object-oriented approach to implementing group-wise ranking logic (dense, competition, and sequential styles) using VBA class modules in Access.
Marcus Dieterle (LinkedIn Articles)
- 🚨 "It works on my machine – but not on the client's.": A lightweight VBA system check tool that collects comprehensive environment data (OS, Office version, bitness, references) to troubleshoot deployment issues across client workstations.
John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
- Getting the alternate data streams (ADS) for a file or folder: An introduction to alternate data streams in NTFS file systems, with Windows API code to enumerate streams attached to files and folders.
- Reading, writing and deleting alternate data streams (ADS): Windows API Functions (CreateFile, ReadFile, WriteFile, DeleteFile) for reading stream data, writing custom streams, and removing streams from files and folders.
- The ":Zone.Identifier:$DATA" alternate data stream (ADS): Understanding the "Mark of the Web" stream that blocks downloaded files, with VBA Functions to detect and programmatically unblock files by removing the Zone.Identifier stream.
Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
- Add a Timeout to Message Boxes: Three approaches to adding auto-close timeouts to Access message boxes: using MessageBoxTimeout API, custom modal forms with timer events, and third-party enhanced message box solutions with countdown features.
- Dates in Excel and Access: Explains the historical differences between Excel and Access date systems, including Excel's inherited Lotus 1-2-3 leap year bug for 1900, and why dates are consistent between both applications from March 1, 1900 onwards.
- AEU51: Using Grid Lanes in Access: A presentation preview on creating a 2D grid with draggable objects using GDI commands and class modules, demonstrated through a scheduling application integrated with Google Maps.
Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
- Throwback Thursday: March 5, 2026: A curated collection of articles revisiting best practices for autonumbers, primary keys, and deciding when to store numbers as text versus numeric fields.

Videos‌

Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
- Refuses to Calculate (37:58): Why Microsoft Access Refuses to Calculate a Form Footer Total That Should Work - QQ #82
- MkDir (16:51): How to Create File Folders in Microsoft Access VBA Using the MkDir Statement
- Dir Function (11:14): How To Test If A File Exists In Microsoft Access VBA Using The Dir Function
- Access Developer 53 (03:11): Recycle Bin, Word Docs, Import Automation & Recursive MkDir
- SQL Server for Access Users - Beginner 1 Lesson 12 (29:30): SQL Server Vs Microsoft Access SQL Differences

New to Me

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

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}^.

[March 10, 2026] Roy Kim: Chatbot Against Your Documents with AKS RAG Engine (JUST ADDED)
[March 27, 2026] Access Day (in person in Redmond, WA):
- Armen Stein: Start and Grow Your Consulting Business
- Mike Wolfe: Long-Term Care for Access: Taking Over an Existing Application
- Rochelle Long: Managing IP rules for Azure SQL Server from within your Access Application
- Andrew Richards & Peter Bryant: GraphAuthenticator - the “New Outlook” problem solved and a world of possibilities to explore
- Juan Soto: Using AI as your Access Development Assistant
- Access Team (Linda Cannon, Shane Groff, Courtney Owen, Sachin Arunkumar): Access News and Demos of New Features
[March 31, 2026] Maria Barnes: Interfacing with the Outlook calendar
[April 1, 2026] Peter Cole: Using vbWatchdog with Access
[April 16-17, 2026] Access DevCon Vienna (virtual): speakers TBA
[May 6, 2026] Tim Finch: Grid Lanes
[June 3, 2026] Kevin Bell: SQL Server Tips and Tricks for Access Developers
[September 2, 2026] John Mallinson: Working with the Windows API

Access Roadmap

There were no changes made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-02-28) and this week (2026-03-07).

The roadmap was last updated October 15, 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. Dates listed are "rollout start" dates.

In Development

OCT 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.
DEC 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

None listed.

Development Priorities

"Development Priorities" do not appear on the Access Roadmap. Instead, they get updated from time to time in official Access blog posts or Access engineering team presentations. I'll include a link to the source of the current development priorities as they get updated.

The items listed below reflect Microsoft's order of priority and were published in the following Access Forever article, Microsoft's Plans for Access Oct '25 – March '26.

Continued focus on monthly issue fixes, security, customer-reported bugs, etc. to improve product quality, security, reliability, and relevance. Most of our engineering hours are spent here.
Large monitor support: Remove 22” limitation to support using Access on modern hardware.
Large monitor support: Enable zoom slider magnification for forms.
Large monitor support: Modernize forms to work well on large monitors.
Time allowing, we’ll continue to work on remaining large monitor support features (support zoom in reports and design layout, automatic zooming, support multiple monitor scenarios).
If we still have time left over in the semester, we will begin work on Git integration for source code management in Access. (Spec is in progress. We will likely roll this out in phases also beginning the second half of 2026.)

Special thanks to Karl Donaubauer for posting the updated priorities at AccessForever.org.

Upcoming End-of-Life Dates

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

2024

~~[JUL 09]~~ SQL Server 2014

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)