Disable Printing 2
By Richard Rost
2 years ago
Disable Printing in MS Access, Part 2: Shortcut Menus In this Microsoft Access tutorial, I will show you how to restrict printing to only using a designated Print button. This is part 2 of 3. In this video, we will learn how to disable the right-click shortcut menus. MembersIn the extended cut, I will show you how to disable the right-click menu just for a specific report or form by creating and setting a custom menu for that particular object. Silver Members and up get access to view Extended Cut videos, when available. Gold Members can download the files from class plus get access to the Code Vault. If you're not a member, Join Today!
PrerequisitesRecommended CoursesUp Next
Keywords TechHelp Access, disable printing Access, right-click shortcut menu Access, restrict print button, ACCDE files, custom menu bar Access, hide ribbon Access, print preview ribbon Access, disable right-click report Access, secure Access report, limit user access database
Intro In this video, we continue our series on disabling printing in Microsoft Access. I'll show you how to turn off the right-click popup menu so users can't access the print dialog from reports, and explain how to disable right-click menus throughout your entire database using the "Current Database" options. We'll cover how these settings impact the ribbon and menu access, what happens when you disable "Allow Full Menus," and how to get back into your database if you lock yourself out of important tools. This is Part Two.Transcript This is Part Two of my series on disabling printing. In Part One, I showed you how to disable Control + P for the print dialog. Today in Part Two, we're going to talk about how to disable the right-click menu so you can't right-click on a report and bring up the print dialog. And then tomorrow in Part Three, I'm going to show you how to hide the ribbon across the top up here. But for today, let's focus on that right-click popup menu. And of course, if you haven't watched Part One yet, go watch Part One first, then come on back, okay? All right.
Here we are in our database that we started yesterday. We've got our invoice report here. And if I try to hit Control + P, it says you can't do that. But I'm smart. I know a little Access. I can still come over here, right-click, and then go print, and it still brings this thing up. That's not good. How do I disable that? Well, what I'm going to show you right now is a way you can disable those right-click menus for everywhere in the database. So you only have to do it once, and it disables them everywhere.
We're going to close this, close this. We're going to come over here and go to File and then Options. This brings up all, I got lots of different videos and a lot of different things that are covered in here. What we're looking for today is "Current Database" and then scroll down, and right here is the one you're looking for: "Allow Default Shortcut Menus." Okay, turn that off. Hit OK. You gotta close and reopen the database. Shut it down. Open it back up again.
When you're back in here, you can go to here, go to Orders, go to Invoices, and right-click, right-click, right-click. Nothing's happening. Okay. I can't right-click. Control + P. Can't do that one either. I've shut those two things down. But I still got a print button up there. So we'll talk about shutting this thing down in tomorrow's video. But this will now, anywhere in your database, even over here, you can't right-click anywhere in the database. It shuts that right down.
Now you might still want to be able to right-click in some places. So you can set up a custom menu bar, a custom right-click pop-up menu bar where you specify only certain objects that it works in. And I'm going to cover that in the extended cut for the members. It involves a little bit of programming, but we'll learn how to do that in just a little bit.
But for the rest of you, you can shut down that right-click menu, again, under File, Options, and then "Current Database," and it's right down here. Now there's also this thing here that says "Allow Full Menus." If you turn that off, that shuts down most of the ribbon tabs. Watch this: we're going to talk about the ribbon tabs in tomorrow's class, but if you open this up again now, notice you got some missing stuff. I got my "Rix" tab; it's a custom tab I set up, but there's "Home," and that's it. Lots of the other stuff is gone.
Even if you go into design view, actually, you can't even right-click here, see, because we turned off the right-click menus. So if you go into here, let's say you click on a button there, notice your design tab, all that stuff is off. Okay, so that's one thing you can do to limit user access. Of course, we're giving our users ACCDE files. We're not giving them the full ACCDB to work with. That'll get rid of all the design stuff that they can't get into, and then make messes of things, okay? And look, even that's off. We can't even go into the file options, okay? How do we get back in?
Well, close the database, click on it, hold the shift key down, and now double-click on it. And when she opens, you should get back; for some reason, Access has been taking forever to load lately, ever since the last update. All right, I got everything back now, and I can go back in here under File, Options, and turn that back off. If you want, you got your design copy, right? You want to leave that on; otherwise, you're going to be limiting yourself to what you can get into as well.
Just a short video today, folks. Sometimes they're longer, sometimes they're quickies; today's a quickie. That's Part Two; that's how to disable this right-click menu, and again, in the extended cut, I'm going to show you how to disable that just for a specific report or a specific form. Alright, you basically create a custom menu, and you can disable or set that custom menu as the menu for that particular object. We'll talk about it in the extended cut. Silver members and up get access to all of my extended cut videos, not just this one, all of them.
And don't forget, tomorrow in Part Three, I'm going to show you how to turn off that ribbon. Oh, the one thing I was going to show you. I forgot to show you this, and I forgot. Okay, so come back in here. This is the whole reason I was, this is the whole reason I put this on my notes, is to cover this. Go back into options, right, "Current Database," turn off "Allow Full Menus," okay?
Restart the database. Okay, menus are off. Can't even do that, can't right-click on stuff, but watch this. Go into here, go into there, print the invoice, and look at this! You still get the print preview ribbon. The one that we don't want to allow our users to print is still there, even if you turn off full menus. That's a note for the Access team right there; this should not be here if the developer has selected to turn off full menus. Get rid of this.
Alright, I'm going to show you how to get rid of it in the extended cut, but that's just annoying. Tune in tomorrow, same bat-time, same bat-channel, all that stuff. Users, you can watch it right now; I'm going to record it in about five minutes. But that's going to be your "TechHelp" video for today. Hope you learned something. Live long and prosper, my friends. I'll see you tomorrow for Part Three.
TOPICS
Disabling printing in Microsoft Access
Understanding Access report printing options
Disabling the print dialog with Control + P
Disabling the right-click popup menu for reports
Disabling right-click menus across an entire database
Navigating to "Current Database" options in Access
Turning off "Allow Default Shortcut Menus" in Access
The requirement to restart Access after changing options
Previewing the effect of disabling right-click menus
Creating custom right-click popup menus (for members)
Limiting user access to the database
Overview of "Allow Full Menus" option in Access
Effect of disabling "Allow Full Menus" on the ribbon tabs
Ensuring a secure ACCDE distribution to users
Utilizing the shift key to bypass disabled menus
Setting up a custom tab in the ribbon
Re-enabling options if disabled by mistake
Previewing Part Three: disabling the ribbon
Access limitations on printing with the ribbon disabled
Potential Access improvement suggestions regarding full menus
A note on the persistence of the print preview ribbon despite disabling full menusQuiz Q1. What is the primary topic of Part Two in the video tutorial series?
A. Disabling the Control + P shortcut for printing
B. Disabling the right-click popup menu for reports
C. Turning off the ribbon
D. Creating a custom tab in the ribbon
Q2. Where in Access do you go to disable default shortcut menus?
A. Trust Center
B. Quick Access Toolbar options
C. Access Options under "Current Database"
D. Access database properties
Q3. What must you do after changing the option to disable default shortcut menus?
A. Save your database as a new file
B. Restart your computer
C. Close and reopen the database
D. Delete the ACCDE file and create a new one
Q4. What does the "Allow Full Menus" option control when turned off?
A. The availability of keyboard shortcuts
B. The presence of most ribbon tabs
C. The ability to right-click in the database
D. The security settings for the ACCDE file
Q5. To re-enable a disabled option if you've locked yourself out of the database interface, what should you do?
A. Reinstall Access
B. Double-click on the database while holding the control key
C. Double-click on the database while holding the shift key
D. Contact Microsoft Support
Q6. In the extended cut for members, what specific feature will be covered?
A. Disabling Control + P only for specific reports
B. Disabling right-click popup menus for specific objects
C. Limiting user access to certain fields in the database
D. Enabling full menus for specific users
Q7. What is a side effect of turning off "Allow Full Menus" mentioned in the video?
A. The "Design View" becomes completely inaccessible.
B. It restricts user access to the database.
C. The print preview ribbon unexpectedly remains accessible.
D. Custom tabs in the ribbon are the only ones visible.
Q8. What file format does the tutorial suggest dispensing to users to secure the database?
A. ACCDB
B. ACCDE
C. XML
D. MDB
Q9. What indicates a potential area for improvement in Access, as mentioned in the tutorial?
A. The persistence of the print preview ribbon despite disabling menus
B. The inability to disable the Control + P shortcut
C. The complexity of the options menu in Access
D. The absence of a "Design View" restriction feature
Q10. What is hinted at for the following day's (Part Three) tutorial subject?
A. Customizing the Quick Access Toolbar
B. Hiding or disabling the ribbon
C. Enabling database encryption
D. Creating ACCDE files from ACCDB
Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-C; 4-B; 5-C; 6-B; 7-C; 8-B; 9-A; 10-B
DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.Summary Today's TechHelp tutorial from Access Learning Zone focuses on the second part of the series about disabling printing in Microsoft Access. In Part One, I covered how to turn off the Control + P shortcut to bring up the print dialog. Today in Part Two, I am going to show you how to prevent users from accessing the print dialog with the right-click menu on reports. If you have not watched Part One yet, I recommend going through that lesson first so everything makes sense as we progress.
Let's continue working with the same database from the previous lesson. At this point, if you try to use Control + P while viewing a report such as an invoice, a message prevents you from printing. However, many users who know a bit about Access realize that they can still right-click on a report and select Print, which allows them to get around that roadblock. Clearly, we need another layer of protection.
The approach I will demonstrate will disable right-click menus throughout the entire database. This is a global setting, so you only have to apply it once and it will cover all your objects - not just reports. To do this, start by navigating to the File menu and then open up the Options window. There are lots of configuration options here, but for today's purpose, find the section labeled "Current Database." Scroll down until you see the setting called "Allow Default Shortcut Menus." Turn that option off, then click OK. To apply these changes, close and reopen your database.
Once back inside Access, you will find that right-clicking anywhere in the database no longer brings up any shortcut menus, including the option to print from a report. The Control + P shortcut remains disabled as well. This removes two common ways users could print information you would rather keep under control. Keep in mind that the print button on the ribbon is still available, but we will deal with how to remove access to the ribbon in Part Three of this series.
Disabling right-click menus globally is very effective if you want to generally prevent users from accessing print functions or other context commands. However, there may be situations where you still want users to have access to custom right-click menus in specific areas of your database. For those cases, you can set up custom shortcut menu bars and specify them for particular forms or reports. This involves a bit of programming and design work, and I'll cover how to do that in the Extended Cut for members.
To recap, to disable the right-click menu everywhere, go to File, then Options, open the "Current Database" settings, and switch off "Allow Default Shortcut Menus." While you are there, it is worth noting a nearby option, "Allow Full Menus." Turning this off removes a lot of the standard ribbon tabs, which further limits what users can do. For example, when you restart your database with this setting off, most of the built-in ribbon tabs disappear, except any custom tabs you may have defined yourself. This is another powerful method for restricting user access to your application.
When you disable shortcut menus, the design view context menu is affected as well, so even while working in design mode, right-clicking is also disabled. That is generally recommended when you distribute your application as an ACCDE file instead of an ACCDB. The ACCDE format stops users from entering design view altogether, so they cannot tinker with your designs and potentially damage anything.
If for some reason you limit your own access and need to get back full control, you can hold down the shift key while opening the database. This bypasses the startup options and lets you access everything normally, including File and Options, so you can re-enable whatever settings you need.
I want to point out a quirk in Access related to disabling full menus. Even after turning off both right-click menus and the full menus option, when you open a report in print preview, you still see a ribbon with print options. This persists despite developer settings, and I believe the Access team could improve this to give us more consistent control over printing functionality.
In summary, today's lesson was a quick but important step in locking down printing options for users. We focused on disabling the right-click context menu throughout your database, and I mentioned some more advanced custom menu setup that I'll address in the Extended Cut for members. Remember, you can find the full video tutorial with all of these step-by-step instructions on my website at the link below. I encourage you to check it out for a more detailed walkthrough.
Live long and prosper, my friends.Topic List Disabling the right-click menu in Microsoft Access
Turning off Allow Default Shortcut Menus in Access
Disabling right-click menus for the entire database
Navigating to Current Database options in Access
Restarting Access after changing menu settings
Testing right-click menu functionality post-change
Effect of disabling Allow Full Menus on the ribbon tabs
Limiting user access by removing Access menus
Using the shift key to open Access with menus enabled
Observing the print preview ribbon after disabling menus |
