Week in Review: October 10, 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-opus-4.8.}

• Official Access Blog
  • Build bigger forms in Microsoft Access: Introduces the new Big Forms feature that raises the Access form and report size limit to 2,000 inches, and explains how to set the expanded dimensions in VBA using the Properties collection.
• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
  • CARDA Hasher for Local Hashing of Files or Text: Presents a free, standalone Windows utility that calculates and compares MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512 hashes of files or text entirely locally.
  • CARDA Resource Explorer For Examining DLLs, Exes and more: Presents a free, standalone utility for listing, previewing, and exporting the images and other resources embedded within DLLs, EXEs, and other Portable Executable files.
• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • NEW - Big Forms and Reports for Modern Monitors (Updated 9 Oct): Details the Big Forms feature rolling out to Current Channel version 2609, including the new width and height limits and how to use the new long integer Width, Height, Left, and Top properties via the Properties collection in VBA.
  • Colour Conversion Code: Provides VBA functions for converting between HEX, RGB, OLE (long), and Office HSL colour formats.
  • Access Colour Picker: Presents a free Access-based colour picker utility that detects the screen colour under the cursor and displays it in HEX, RGB, OLE, and HSL formats with clipboard support.
• Crystal Long (Ms Access Gurus | Access Access Newsletter)
  • Create Word document from Access Query: Demonstrates VBA code that automates Word to create a document containing a bordered, shaded table built from an Access query, with optional description, orientation, and margin settings.
• George Hepworth (Grover Park Consulting)
  • The Instruction That Read Like a Weather Report: Explains how an AI client's 50,000-character tool-output limit caused Access build templates to be skimmed rather than read, and describes restructuring templates into sequenced step files to deliver information in the order the work needs it.
• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
  • Throwback Thursday: October 8, 2026: Revisits standout blog posts and debuts the first episode of the "Compact & Repair" web comic alongside commentary on VBA's neglect at Microsoft.
  • twinBASIC Update: October 6, 2026: Reports on BETA 996's LLVM backend improvements delivering up to 43x compile-time gains for projects with large monolithic procedures, along with Discord discussion of performance benchmarks and language-feature updates.

Videos

• Access User Group Recordings (YouTube channel)
  • Open Template Scaffolds: AI Wizard-Driven Development, with George Hepworth
    • Full Demo and Group Discussion (02:10:41):
    • Presentation Excerpt (35:45)
• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
  • SQL Server Dates & Currency (11:46): Changing SQL Server to DateTime & Money for Maximum Compatibility with Microsoft Access
  • Duplicate Pairs (12:56): Prevent Duplicate Combinations of Fields in Microsoft Access
  • Access Developer Course #63 (02:51): Build Shared VBA Libraries, Reusable Forms & Reports, Connect Them to Multiple Access Databases
  • Return Multiple Values (23:47): How to Return Multiple Values from a Function in Microsoft Access VBA
  • Video Quiz B1.10 (03:21): Does Microsoft Access Save Form Edits When You Move to Another Record?
  • Navigation Forms (11:23): How to Create a Navigation Form in Microsoft Access
  • Property Sheet Font Size (04:52): How To Make Property Sheet Text Easier To Read With Larger Font in Microsoft Access

GitHub Projects

^{Changelog summary generated by Claude Opus 5.5.}

MCP-Access One release this week, v0.7.64 (October 8), fixing a bug that affected every database: exporting a form or report with access_get_code and importing it back with access_set_code failed every time.

The server put the binary blocks it strips on export (RecSrcDt, GUID, PrtDevMode, and so on) back in a spot Access doesn't allow, so the import stopped with "Expected: 'End'. Found: RecSrcDt." The automatic backup restored the object, so nothing was lost, but each failed attempt left an errors*.txt file next to the database that you may want to delete. The same fix stops the round trip from overwriting the form's GUID and dropping every section and control GUID; the re-imported text now matches Access's own export byte for byte, apart from the checksum. Also new: a section parameter on access_set_form_property and access_get_form_property, so you can set section properties like BackColor or Height directly. And if you installed the server by hand from the README, the command there pulled in the v2 MCP SDK, which the server can't run on; reinstall with pip install "mcp>=1.0.0,<2" pywin32 pillow. Thanks to Tom van Stiphout for the bug report, root cause, and fix.

If you leave Name AutoCorrect turned on, be aware that Access discards a form's Name AutoCorrect data whenever it imports edited text, and nothing restores it afterward.

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.}

• [October 27, 2026] Eric Flamm: Access to Azure integration using Data Factory
• [November 4, 2026] UKAUG Autumn 2026 Conference: In person at The Phoenix in London; speakers:
  • Colin Riddington: Sprinkle a little UI Magic on your Apps (in-person version)
  • Mike Wolfe: Version Control for Access Developers
  • Alessandro Grimaldi: MS Access: More than you think!
  • Tim Finch: 3D Rendering in VBA. Helped by new “mate”, Claude
  • The Microsoft Access Team
• [November 11, 2026] Colin Riddington: Sprinkle a little UI Magic on your Access Apps
• [December 2, 2026] Mike Wolfe: Using AI for Test Driven Development in Access

Access Roadmap

There were no changes made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-10-03) and this week (2026-10-10).

The roadmap was last updated September 14, 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

• OCT 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.
• SEP 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

• JUN 2026: Design Access forms and reports without 22-inch size constraints: With the removal of the 22-inch limit, your apps can now take full advantage of today’s larger monitors. You can display more data, create flexible layouts, and deliver a better experience on wide and high-resolution screens.

Launched

• AUG 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.

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)