Week in Review

Week in Review: June 20, 2026

Highlights include a deep dive into the CurrentDb() function, highlighting the current row in a continuous form, and tips for using the built-in Access progress meter.

Mike Wolfe

• 6 min read
Week in Review: June 20, 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.

Videos

GitHub Projects

*Changelog summary generated by Claude Opus 4.8.

MCP-Access Last week MCP-Access was busy making sure automated sessions didn't hang; this week it turned to how the forms it builds actually look.

v0.7.45 landed access_build_form, a declarative auto-layout tool that pulls all the coordinate arithmetic out of the LLM and into the MCP — describe a form's title, ordered fields, and action buttons and it computes every position on a canonical 60-twip grid, applies a closed WCAG-safe palette, and assigns tab order, backed by a single design-tokens source of truth, an opt-in snap_to_grid, and four new info-only layout-quality lint rules. v0.7.46 added taste on top of that scaffolding: three curated design directions (theme=despacho|panel|archivo), each a coherent bundle of typeface, modular type scale, dominant-plus-accent palette, spacing density, and an accent header band, with a design guide now reachable via access_tips('design'). It also folded in a two-tone header-band fix and two more info-only lint rules (generic_font and a header-title check rolled into hierarchy) — guidance that nudges without ever changing a verdict.

The throughline: moving Access form quality from per-prompt LLM improvisation to deterministic, taste-encoded construction.

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 (2026-06-13) and this week (2026-06-20).

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: 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.
  • 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 work well on large format monitors and provide responsive behavior for different form factors.
  • 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