Week in Review: April 18, 2026

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.}

• a.p.r. pillai (Learn MS-Access Tips and Tricks)
  • Local AI for Microsoft Access SQL and VBA Coding - Part 1: Learn how to install and configure Ollama with the Qwen2.5-Coder model to generate SQL queries and VBA code locally on your Windows PC without cloud services.
• John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
  • Getting extended file / folder attributes: Discover how to use the GetFileAttributesEx Windows API function to retrieve extended file and folder attributes including creation time, last accessed time, last written time, and file size.
• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
  • What is LinkedIn Browsergate and why it matters: Understand the controversy over LinkedIn's alleged background scanning of browser extensions and device information, and learn practical steps to protect your privacy.
  • When Case Matters Understanding String Comparison in Access: Master case-sensitive and case-insensitive string comparisons in Access using SQL, VBA's StrComp function, and Option Compare settings to control matching behavior.
  • How to Filter Access Forms Using a VBA ListBox: Implement dynamic form filtering with a reusable VBA procedure that supports both single-select and multi-select list boxes with configurable SQL operators.
  • Selecting Option Group Values by Caption in Microsoft Access VBA: Use a reusable VBA function to programmatically select option group values by their user-visible caption text instead of numeric values for more maintainable code.
  • Building a Microsoft Access Interface for FFmpeg: Build a GUI front-end in Access for FFmpeg that dynamically generates video conversion commands based on user-selected formats, codecs, quality presets, and scaling options.
• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • Add a Countdown to a Timeout Message Box: Explore three methods for adding a countdown timer to Access timeout message boxes, including redrawing, overlay text, and custom forms with their respective trade-offs.
  • Full Screen Mode in Access (UPDATED): Learn how full-screen mode is now natively supported in Access 365 version 2604 and later, plus registry-based workarounds for older versions.
  • Zooming Feature Now Rolling Out (UPDATED): Discover the new zooming feature in Access 365 Beta Channel that supports 50% to 500% zoom for datasheets, forms, and print preview with multiple input methods.
  • AEU52: SQL Server Tips & Tricks for Access Devs: Access Europe meeting on June 3, 2026, featuring Kevin Bell presenting practical SQL Server techniques for improving readability, manageability, and performance in Access applications.
  • AEU56: GraphAuthenticator - 'New' Outlook solved!: Access Europe meeting on October 7, 2026, introducing GraphAuthenticator, a tool that enables VBA applications to authenticate with Microsoft Graph API using multi-factor authentication.
• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
  • Practical twinBASIC: DevCon 2026: Resources and recordings from five years of DevCon Vienna presentations covering twinBASIC's evolution, including OAuth2 implementation, Access add-ins, and AI-assisted development workflows.
  • Throwback Thursday: April 16, 2026: A curated collection of advanced twinBASIC articles and resources to prepare readers for the DevCon Vienna 2026 presentation.
  • twinBASIC Update: April 15, 2026: Weekly twinBASIC project status covering a quiet release period, Steam API integration breakthroughs, bug fixes for icons and package downloads, and Discord community discussions.

Videos

• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
  • Password Manager, Part 1 (20:14): How To Build A Password Manager & Generator In Microsoft Access Step By Step
  • Password Manager, Part 2 (24:52): How To Build A Password Manager & Generator In Microsoft Access Step By Step, Part 2
  • Ambiguous Outer Joins (17:36): How To Fix Ambiguous Outer Joins In Microsoft Access Queries
  • WHERE vs HAVING (16:49): How To Use WHERE vs HAVING In Microsoft Access SQL
  • Access Origin Story? (05:13): How Did You Get Introduced to Microsoft Access? Here's My Story. Share Yours!
• Daniel Pineault (YouTube channel)
  • Rotate an Image Using VBA + WIA (08:03)
  • Select Option Group Values by Caption (08:29): Stop Hard Coding Option Group Values in Access VBA

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.}

• [April 21, 2026] Juan Soto: Setting Up Your AI Environment
• [May 6, 2026] Tim Finch: Grid Lanes
• [May 7, 2026] John Colozzi: Access Isn’t Dead. It Finally Got a “Co-Pilot”. (No. Not that one.) (DATE CORRECTED)
• [May 19, 2026] Juan Soto: Integrate Git into your AI environment
• [June 3, 2026] Kevin Bell: SQL Server Tips and Tricks for Access Developers
• [June 9, 2026] Juan Soto: Use AI to build complex features in Access
• [August 5, 2026] Marcus Dieterle: Use the Edge browser control to extend Access
• [September 2, 2026] John Mallinson: Working with the Windows API

Access Roadmap

There were no changes to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-04-11) and this week (2026-04-18).

The roadmap was last updated April 3, 2026.

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

• APR 2026: 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.
• JUN 2026: Modernize Access Forms and Reports to work well on Large Format Monitors: Remove the 22-inch size limit and modernize Access forms and reports [to] 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.

1. 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.
2. Large monitor support: Remove 22” limitation to support using Access on modern hardware.
3. Large monitor support: Enable zoom slider magnification for forms.
4. Large monitor support: Modernize forms to work well on large monitors.
5. 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).
6. 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

2025

• [OCT 14] Access 2016 | Access 2019 | Office 2016 | Office 2019
• [OCT 14] Windows 10
• [OCT 28] Salesforce ODBC Driver
• [NOV 11] Windows 11 version 23H2

2026

• [JUL 14] SQL Server 2016
• [OCT 13] Access 2021 | Office 2021
• [OCT 13] Windows 11 version 24H2

2027

• [JAN 12] Windows Server 2016
• [MAR 01] Auto-migration of Classic Outlook begins for Enterprise users (originally scheduled for April 2026, but postponed to March 2027)
• [OCT 12] SQL Server 2017

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)