Week in Review

Week in Review: June 13, 2026

Highlights include a talk on VBA class modules, using AddressOf for Win API callbacks, and a peek inside the Access MVP program.

Mike Wolfe

• 5 min read
Week in Review: June 13, 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.

  • Juan Soto (Access Experts)
    • Is the MVP Summit Losing Its Shine? My honest take: An Access MVP discusses reduced content (only one Access session), eliminated hotel and transportation support, and declining ROI at the 2026 Microsoft MVP Summit despite positive networking opportunities.
  • John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
    • Callbacks in VBA using AddressOf: Learn how to implement callback functions in VBA using the AddressOf operator with Windows API EnumWindows to enumerate visible top-level windows, including signature requirements and error handling.
  • Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
    • Throwback Thursday: June 11, 2026: A curated collection of previously published articles covering debugging techniques for challenging Access error messages, plus developer humor and wisdom from the web.
    • twinBASIC Update: June 9, 2026: Announces two major tools for twinBASIC: okaso's standalone Import/Export utility for .twinproj files and the Wisdom Discord Knowledge Harvester for automated AI-powered documentation extraction.

Videos

GitHub Projects

Changelog summary generated by Claude Opus 4.8.

MCP-Access Last week's single targeted release gave way to a two-release week, both aimed squarely at one failure mode: the wedged COM session.

v0.7.43 — built on a contribution from @CaptainStormfield — taught the server to recover when a database's own startup code closes it mid-open, added a dialog watchdog that now dismisses modals raised inside attached Access instances after a five-second grace, and hardened the search and reference tools to report skipped objects and broken references instead of a misleading "0 matches." v0.7.44 chased the same gremlin into access_eval_vba, giving it the same timeout watchdog treatment as access_run_vba, sweeping stale _mcp_eval_wrapper temp modules before they can wedge the next eval, and saving dirty modules before access_delete_object runs so the old "save changes to the design of module X?" prompt can't hang the call. A small DX touch rode along too: any dialog a watchdog auto-dismisses is now named in the tool result rather than vanishing silently.

The throughline for both releases is resilience — making sure a stray modal or a self-closing database can no longer freeze an automated Access session when there's no human at the keyboard to click "OK."

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.

  • [July 1, 2026] Colin Riddington: UI Tips/Tricks and New Access Features
  • [July 2, 2026] John Colby: Managing a Team of AI Agents
  • [August 5, 2026] Marcus Dieterle: Use the Edge browser control to extend Access
  • [August 6, 2026] Tom van Stiphout: Anonymizer for Access Data
  • [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 (2026-06-06) and this week (2026-06-13).

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

2025

2026

2027

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

2031

2033

2034

Ongoing

Date TBD

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All original code samples by Mike Wolfe are licensed under CC BY 4.0