Week in Review: June 6, 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.}

• Official Access Blog
  • Bug fixes in Microsoft Access - Current Channel Version 2605 (Build 16.0.20026.20118), by LindaLu Cannon: Access 2605 fixes ten bugs including Edge Browser PDF rendering issues, SharePoint export failures with lookup fields and attachments, and conditional formatting color picker regressions.
• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
  • How-To Recover Deleted Files: A curated list of file recovery tools including Active@ File Recovery, Recuva, and TestDisk, with the critical reminder to stop using the affected drive immediately to prevent overwriting deleted data.
  • Display Help Information When Microsoft Access’ Content Is Disabled: Create a startup form that automatically displays instructions when Access content is disabled, then closes itself via the Form_Open event when content is enabled, turning the security warning into a support feature.
  • When Perpetual No Longer Means Perpetual: Microsoft quietly removed language guaranteeing that Office 2019 and 2021 for Mac perpetual licenses remain fully functional, replacing it with ambiguous wording that raises concerns about future view-only conversions.
  • How To Display The Current Database Path/Name In The Access Application Title Bar: Dynamically set the Access application title bar at runtime using the SetProp function to modify the AppTitle database property with values from CurrentProject.Name, Path, or FullName.
• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • Using the Zooming Feature Effectively: Design forms with proper control sizing margins, alignment precision, and both scrollbars enabled to ensure text captions and layouts remain accessible across all zoom levels from 50% to 500%.
  • AEU52: SQL Server Tips & Tricks for Access Devs: Access Europe meeting on June 3, 2026 featuring Kevin's presentation on proven but underused SQL Server techniques that improve readability, manageability, and performance in Access applications.
  • Load Local Files Faster in Edge Browser Control: Add "127.0.0.1 msaccess" to the Windows hosts file to dramatically speed up local HTML file loading in the Edge browser control by configuring DNS to point the msaccess domain to localhost.
  • Zooming Feature Now Rolling Out (UPDATED): Access 365's new zooming feature (50%-500%) supports Datasheet View, Form View, and Print Preview with keyboard shortcuts, mouse wheel, and touchscreen gestures, now available in Current Channel as of June 1, 2026.
  • Access / Office Bug Summary - May 2026: May 2026 bug report covering ghost text in combo boxes, datasheet checkbox resizing issues, mouse cursor positioning errors when zoomed, and ten fixes released in Access build 20026.20118.
• Crystal Long (Ms Access Gurus | Access Access Newsletter)
  • Building an Access database to track foods, herbs, and plants -- any ideas?: Crystal Long invites the LinkedIn Access community to help design a database for tracking which foods, herbs, and plants are beneficial or harmful to humans, cats, and dogs, soliciting table structures and design ideas rather than presenting a finished schema.
• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
  • Throwback Thursday: June 4, 2026: This retrospective revisits techniques for managing control visibility and focus in Access forms, including ObscureInfo() to hide sensitive data from over-the-shoulder viewers, resolution of the "can't hide a control that has the focus" error, and the TrySetFocus convenience function that safely shifts focus before hiding a control.
  • twinBASIC Update: June 3, 2026: twinBASIC beta 983 adds ADODB.Recordset DataSource support, completes a 1,890-page PDF reference book with full navigation, deprecates Implements Via in favor of Inherits, and adds gamepad input to basicNES.

Videos

• George Hepworth (YouTube channel)
  • AI-Assisted Access Development: The Tool Stack (44:30): The Five Main Tools
  • What I Learned about My Program Management Skills from the DevPulse Data (13:24)
• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
  • Design Changes (13:56): How To List Recently Changed Objects in Microsoft Access (Forms, Queries, Reports & Tables)
  • Name AutoCorrect (18:33): Why I Turn Off Name AutoCorrect in Microsoft Access
  • Specs And Limits (24:43): Microsoft Access Specifications And Limitations: Real World Performance And Capacity
  • Undo Changes (08:21): How To Undo Record Changes In Microsoft Access
  • Security Mistake (18:54): The Microsoft Access Security Mistake That People Still Make - QQ 94
• Daniel Pineault (YouTube channel)
  • Content Disabled (09:06): Show a Startup Form When Content Is Disabled (Enable Content or Trusted Location)

GitHub Projects

^{Changelog summary generated by Claude Opus 4.7.}

MCP-Access After last week's four-release flurry, MCP-Access settled into a single targeted release this week — v0.7.42, driven by field reports.

The marquee fix is access_vbe_replace_proc no longer eating the blank separator line above a procedure during a replace, which had been quietly removing visual structure from VBA modules. A second fix kills a false-positive "Option … expected in first 5 lines" warning that triggered on modules with long comment banners — the linter now requires real code to precede the Option statement before complaining. The DX touch: access_vbe_replace_lines accepts a new_lines array as an alias for new_code, and now warns loudly when a replace deletes lines but inserts nothing — closing a footgun where a misnamed argument could silently nuke a procedure body.

All three improvements share the same theme — making VBA editing tools less surprising when the inputs aren't quite what the user thought they were.

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.}

• [June 9, 2026] Juan Soto: Use AI to build complex features in Access
• [July 1, 2026] Colin Riddington: UI Tips/Tricks and New Access Features
• [July 2, 2026] John Colby: Managing a Team of AI Agents (JUST ADDED)
• [August 5, 2026] Marcus Dieterle: Use the Edge browser control to extend Access
• [August 6, 2026] "Tom" (van Stiphout, perhaps???): Anonymizer for Access Data (JUST ADDED)
• [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

There were no changes made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-05-30) and this week (2026-06-06).

The roadmap was last updated May 11, 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

• 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.
• JUL 2026: Rounded corners on Access form controls: We’re making it easier to give your Access apps a polished, up-to-date feel. With the new CornerRadius property, you can add rounded corners to form controls—bringing a softer, more modern look to your designs.
• 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.
• JUN 2026: Zooming for Continuous Forms and Multiple-Items Forms: Access extends zoom capabilities to continuous forms and pop-up forms, building on zoom support already available in tables and queries. Adjust magnification from 10 percent to 500 percent using the slider in the lower-right corner or controls on the ribbon. Keyboard shortcuts are also available, making it easy to quickly change your view and focus on the details that matter most.
• MAY 2026: Enable zoom magnification to Microsoft Access for Forms, Tables, QUeries: 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.

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)