Week in Review: May 9, 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.}

• Access Forever
  • Feature Update from Access DevCon, by Karl Donaubauer: Microsoft Access team demonstrated three experimental features at DevCon 2026: cascading combo/list boxes using properties, rounded control corners via CornerRadius property, and a redesigned date picker.
• Marcus Dieterle (Dieterle Programmierung)
  • SQL to MS Excel - Export Exactly the Data You Need from Microsoft Access: A VBA tool for Microsoft Access that provides both an interactive dialog form for building SQL SELECT statements without SQL knowledge and a direct export function for sending query results to Excel with type-safe WHERE clause generation.
• John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
  • Beta testing of VBE_Extras in Microsoft Visio and Microsoft Project: VBE_Extras developer seeks beta testers familiar with VBA in Microsoft Visio or Microsoft Project, offering free annual licenses to contributors.
  • VBE_Extras catch-up #10: Next / previous code reference in this Project: VBE_Extras provides keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+PgUp/PgDn) to navigate through all code references of a declaration within a VBA Project, wrapping around from last to first.
  • VBE_Extras catch-up #9: Go to declaration above / below: VBE_Extras adds keyboard shortcuts (Ctrl+Shift+comma/period) to jump sequentially through module-level declarations within a VBA module, wrapping around at boundaries.
  • VBE_Extras catch-up #8: Backup the Project: VBE_Extras provides a command to quickly backup VBA projects from within the VBE, with configurable save locations and optional backup descriptions.
• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
  • Cascading Combo and List Boxes Coming to Microsoft Access: Microsoft Access will introduce cascading combo and list boxes using Link Master Field and Link Child Field properties, eliminating the need for VBA code to implement this beginner-level feature.
  • Microsoft Phases Out Semi-Annual Update Channel for Some Microsoft 365 Installations: Microsoft is removing the Semi-Annual Enterprise Channel as an option for unmanaged devices in the Microsoft 365 admin center, pushing organizations toward faster monthly update cycles.
  • One Query to Understand Your SQL (Azure) Server Database Environment: A single SQL query retrieves essential database context including collation, recovery model, compatibility level, size, and connection details for both SQL Server and Azure SQL Database environments.
  • Power Automate – Flow – Review: A developer's critical assessment of Power Automate identifies major pain points including lack of inline comments, no find/replace functionality, unstable editor, missing versioning, limited error handling, and hidden properties.
• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • Roadmap Updated - New Feature (Aug 2026): Microsoft Access roadmap confirms Link Master Field and Link Child Field properties for combo and list boxes in August 2026, plus upcoming Zoom feature rollout and removal of form/report width limits.
  • Switchboard Manager in modern Access versions: Four methods to access the hidden Switchboard Manager in modern Access versions, including VBA code, Tell Me search, custom ribbon items, and Quick Access Toolbar additions.
  • Cascading Combo Boxes (UPDATED): A downloadable example demonstrates building cascading combo boxes to search 28,500 UK postcodes using five linked dropdowns, with an update noting Microsoft will support this natively without code in August 2026.
• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
  • Throwback Thursday: May 7, 2026: A retrospective collection of articles covering VBA memory management and the Large Address Aware (LAA) flag in Microsoft Access.
  • twinBASIC Update: May 5, 2026: Weekly twinBASIC update highlights the public release of the DevCon 2026 presentation on YouTube, clarification that subscriptions grant perpetual access to the last licensed version, and updates to fafalone's MotW utility.

Videos

• Karl Donaubauer (YouTube channel)

  • Breaking Access News (06:24): Feature Update from Access DevCon 2026

• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)

  • Tables or Queries? (25:56): Should Your Microsoft Access Forms & Reports be Based on Tables or Queries? QQ 91
  • Not Opening? (08:13): Microsoft Access Not Opening? Use Separate MSACCESS.EXE Instances For Each Database
  • Kanban Board - Part 1 (20:19): Build a Kanban Board in Microsoft Access to Track Sales Pipeline, Customers, Tasks, Workflow, etc.
  • Kanban Board - Part 2 (20:37): Build a Kanban Board in Microsoft Access - Part 2
  • File - Options (04:02): Microsoft Access File Options Menu Settings Explained For Beginners
  • Reports Slow? (34:32): Microsoft Access Reports Running Slow? Here's What You're Missing - QQ 90
  • Terminology (03:02): Microsoft Access Database Terminology Explained For Beginners

GitHub Projects

MCP-Access — three bug-fix versions this week:

• VBE cache correctness (v0.7.31): _vbe_code_cache removed entirely — it returned stale text after manual VBE edits, and the WRITE tools read through the same cache before writing, so they could overwrite the wrong baseline and corrupt code. Reported by @TvanStiphout-Home in issue #26.
• Bound-form fix (v0.7.33): access_create_form now actually applies record_source and default_view instead of silently dropping them — the typical subform-creation flow was producing unbound forms rendering #Name? on every control.
• ODBC robustness (v0.7.31): access_relink_table no longer hangs the session on unreachable SQL Servers — injects LoginTimeout=8 and runs an ADODB preflight so a bad connect string raises cleanly instead of opening a modal SQL Server Login dialog.
• Off-by-one cleanup (v0.7.30): VBE write tools no longer emit spurious Expected N lines after edit warnings when new_code ends with \r\n. Thanks to @CaptainStormfield in PR #27.

Tool count unchanged at 62.

GitHub - unmateria/MCP-Access: MCP Server for editing VBA code and controls on an MS Access .ACCDB database via LLM (tested just with Claude Code)

MCP Server for editing VBA code and controls on an MS Access .ACCDB database via LLM (tested just with Claude Code) - unmateria/MCP-Access

GitHubunmateria

New to Me

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

AccGPT — AI-Power for Microsoft Access

AccGPT — AI toolkit for Microsoft Access. Chat with 400+ models, generate code and images, expand prompts, tune model parameters, and manage AI personas — all natively inside Access.

AccGPT — AI‑Power for Microsoft AccessGeoffrey L. Griffith (https://GeoffreyGriffith.com)

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.}

• [May 14, 2026] UKAUG App-in-a-Day Conference: Birmingham, UK
  • Armen Stein
  • Anders Ebro
  • Kevin Bell
  • Peter Bryant
  • Steve Girling
  • Andrew Richards
• [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
• [October 7, 2026] Peter Bryant / Andrew Richards: GraphAuthenticator – the ‘New’ Outlook problem solved and a world of possibilities to explore

Access Roadmap

The following changes were made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-05-02) and this week (2026-05-09).

Added

• AUG 2026: Cascading combo and list boxes with LinkMasterFields/LinkChildFields: Combo boxes and list boxes now support LinkMasterFields/LinkChildFields properties, enabling cascading dropdowns (e.g., Country filters City) without writing VBA code.

The roadmap was last updated May 5, 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

• MAY 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 in Access forms, tables, and queries.
• 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.
• AUG 2026: Cascading combo and list boxes with LinkMasterFields/LinkChildFields: Combo boxes and list boxes now support LinkMasterFields/LinkChildFields properties, enabling cascading dropdowns (e.g., Country filters City) without writing VBA code.

Rolling Out

None listed.

Launched

None listed.

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)