Week in Review: September 27, 2025

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.}

• Official Access Blog
  • Access fixes released in versions 2507 and 2508, by LindaLu Cannon: Details bug fixes in two recent Access versions, including resolved issues with the Monaco SQL editor, Unicode character handling, and various crashes.
• Access Forever
  • VBScript goes away -- Our code will stay, by Philipp Stiefel: Explains how VBScript deprecation affects Access developers and reveals that RegExp classes are now natively available in VBA while other VBScript components remain functional.
• Marcus Dieterle (LinkedIn Articles)
  • 💥 Let's make ACCESS sexy again! With Custom Dialogs and Mini Notifications: Introduces custom dialog solutions to replace outdated Access MsgBox and InputBox with modern, configurable interfaces featuring icons, colors, and advanced functionality.
• John Mallinson (The VBA Help)
  • Drawing individual pixels with the Windows API: Demonstrates how to use Windows API functions SetPixel and GetPixel to draw and manipulate individual pixels on Access UserForms.
• Jonathan Halder (Access JumpStart 2.0)
  • A random set of today's interesting tasks: Shares development challenges including OAuth2 authentication issues with SharePoint and complex SQL queries with multiple UNION statements.
  • A short foray into TDD and AI to help with a production Access database update: Describes using ChatGPT-5 and RubberDuckVBA for test-driven development on an Access database, highlighting challenges with DAO transactions and testing approaches.
• Daniel Pineault (DEVelopers HUT)
  • What Does Microsoft Have Against Microsoft Access?: Criticizes Microsoft's neglect of Access in their marketing and blog content, noting how the product is virtually invisible on their official platforms despite being actively used.
  • Microsoft Access Zoom Slider Feature Delayed Again: A Familiar Story of Roadmap Slips: Reports another delay of the Access zoom slider feature from September to October 2025, highlighting Microsoft's pattern of missing roadmap deadlines for Access.
• Colin Riddington (Isladogs on Access)
  • Fix Context Menu Errors: Provides solutions for fixing broken Access context menus by either using code to modify CommandBar settings or safely deleting registry entries to force rebuilding.
• Mike Wolfe (NoLongerSet)
  • Throwback Thursday: September 25, 2025: Features a collection of articles about when and how to convert specific code into reusable routines, including the "Rule of Thrice" principle.

Videos‌

• Access User Group Recordings (YouTube channel)
  • Update on calling Microsoft Graph API from VBA (01:02:27): with Maria Barnes
• Richard Rost (YouTube channel)
  • Quick Queries #59 (16:09): Why Do So Many IT Professionals Hate Microsoft Access?
  • Excel to Access (24:21): Moving From Excel to Microsoft Access - Top Tips for a Smooth Transition
  • Microsoft Access Fitness Database:
    • Part 39 (17:25): Use the KeyDown Event to Control User Tab Keystrokes
    • Part 40 (11:38): How to Ignore Arrow Key Presses in Microsoft Access Combo Box Events
    • Part 41 (13:30): Combine Meals and Foods Together with a UNION Query

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. Not all links below include the start time and time zone. For that information, check out this handy reference guide from Access MVP Maria Barnes over at AccessForever.org: Access User Groups 2025.}

• [September 30, 2025] Crystal Long & Adrian Bell: Using Custom and Built-in Functions in Expressions
• [October 01, 2025] Marcus Dieterle: High impact – Custom dialogs and mini-notifications
• [October 28, 2025] Colin Riddington: A Masterclass in Access Security
• [November 5, 2025] Ynte Jan Kundersma: Using Power Automate with Office Apps
• [December 03, 2025] Adolph Dupré: Using Twilio for Texting from Access
• [February 04, 2026] Aleksander Wojtasz: Creating an Advanced Data Grid Integrated with Access
• [March 04, 2026] Chris Arnold: Using Disconnected (In-Memory) ADO Recordsets in Access

*NOTE: Access User Group event calendar was not displaying any events at publication time; events listed above are carried forward from last week's article.

Access Roadmap

The following changes were made to the roadmap between the Week in Review last week (2025-09-20) and this week (2025-09-27):

• Add zoom slider magnification to Microsoft Access: Rollout Start changed from Sep '25 to Oct '25
• Integrate Monaco framework to improve SQL editor capabilities: Removed from "Launched" list (rollout start date was Sep '24)

The roadmap was last updated September 24, 2025.

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 2025: Add zoom slider magnification to Microsoft Access: 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.
• SEP 2025: 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.

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

• [APR 01] Auto-migration of Classic Outlook begins for Enterprise users
• [JUL 14] SQL Server 2016
• [OCT 13] Access 2021 | Office 2021
• [OCT 13] Windows 11 version 24H2

2027

• [JAN 12] Windows Server 2016
• [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)