Week in Review

Week in Review: October 31, 2026

Highlights include a major VCS add-in update, a 64-bit refresh for old Lebans utilities, a custom form-zooming utility, and how to make a VBE COM add-in.

Mike Wolfe

• 6 min read
Week in Review: October 31, 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.

  • Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
    • Modernizing the Lebans Month Calendar: Presents a modernized, 32- and 64-bit compatible accdb version of Stephen Lebans' MonthCalendar tool for displaying and navigating up to 12 configurable months at once.
    • Find a Specific Table in a Relationship View: Presents a modernized, 32- and 64-bit compatible accdb version of Stephen Lebans' utility for selecting and locating a specific table or query within the Access Relationships window.
    • Create, Save and Load Relationships Views: Presents a modernized, 32- and 64-bit compatible accdb version of Stephen Lebans' tool for creating, saving, and restoring multiple Relationship diagram layouts in Access.
    • How To Create a VBE COM Add-In: Shares a Visual Studio template with both a basic skeleton and an advanced developer-commands sample for building Visual Basic Editor COM add-ins in VB.NET targeting 32- and 64-bit Office.
  • Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
    • Sprinkle a Little UI Magic on your apps: Previews Colin Riddington's November 4, 2026 UKAUG conference session (with an online Access Europe repeat on November 11) covering a wide range of tips and tricks for enhancing Access form appearance and functionality.
    • Zoom++ Status Bar: Introduces Zoom++, a downloadable Access app started by Xevi Batlle that extends the native form zoom feature with a status bar slider for popup forms and support for all form and control types across Access 2010 onward.
  • George Hepworth (Grover Park Consulting)
    • For Your AI Assistant, a Rule Is Not an Order: Explores why AI assistants weigh instructions probabilistically rather than executing them as orders, using an Open Template Standard library experiment about Trusted Locations to illustrate how reasoning clauses strengthen compliance.
  • Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
    • Throwback Thursday: October 29, 2026: Revisits a series of articles on AI's impact on Access developers, including the Jevons paradox and the first AI add-in for Access, alongside an open letter calling for a pause on giant AI experiments, plus a comic about AI replacing developers.
    • twinBASIC Update: October 27, 2026: Covers new twinBASIC beta releases adding a long-awaited Object Browser, experimental COM type library (.tlb) build support, and a refreshed IDE with the new Aurora theme.

Videos

GitHub Projects

Changelog summary generated by Claude Opus 5.5.

Version Control System for MS Access Adam Waller released v5.1.0 on October 28, rolling up 219 commits since v5.0.1.

What's new:

  • A test runner window. Run Tests now opens a dedicated window that lists your tests before running them. You can filter by @Folder or @Tag, rerun only the failures, and click a result to jump to the procedure in the VBE. It requires Microsoft 365 Version 2304 or later; older builds keep the console output.
  • Stable form layouts. Export format 5.1.0 writes form layouts on a fixed grid, so an untouched form exports the same way on a laptop at 150% display scaling and a desktop at 100%.
  • Faster merge builds. Changed tables are created directly through DAO instead of ImportXML. In one large benchmark database, importing a changed table dropped from about 460 seconds to about 1 second.
  • Table data merging. Merge builds now merge the records in tables listed under Table Data, inserting, updating, or deleting only the rows that differ.
  • Headless commands for CI and AI agents. VCS.BuildHeadless, VCS.MergeHeadless, and VCS.RunTestsHeadless run with no forms or prompts and return the results as JSON.
  • Merge build fixes. One bug flagged a conflict for only the first changed module and silently overwrote the rest. @rHernandezNotarnet contributed most of the merge and table fixes, with pull requests from @pflugs30, @bclothier, @hrschupp, @josef-poetzl, and @DecimalTurn.

What needs your attention when you upgrade:

  • Opt in to export format 5.1.0. Upgrading leaves existing projects on their current format. Select 5.1.0 under Options → Export, run a full export, and commit the one-time diff, which is mostly form layout geometry and table property order.
  • Check the table data merge setting. Table data merging is on by default. If those records differ between environments, turn off Merge changes to exported table data before your next merge build.
  • Re-export conditional formatting on field values. The 5.0 export format saved every such rule as Between, and a database built from that source inherits the wrong rules. Re-export affected forms and reports from a database where the rules are still correct.

Check the table data setting before your first merge build on v5.1.0.

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.

  • [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
    • Karl Donaubauer: Access Community Update + SDVBA Add-In
    • Alessandro Grimaldi: MS Access: More than you think!
    • Tim Finch: 3D Rendering in VBA. Helped by new “mate”, Claude
    • Steve Girling: Case Study of an Access Application for Blackmore UK based on Access FE & SQL Server BE
    • The Microsoft Access Team
  • [November 5, 2026] Greg Regan: PUTT Access Help System (JUST ADDED)
  • [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
  • [January 6, 2027] John Colozzi: Northwind 2.0 Reimagined
  • [February 3, 2027] Kallun Willock: Topic to be confirmed

Access Roadmap

There were no changes made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2026-10-24) and this week (2026-10-31).

The roadmap was last updated October 15, 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

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