Quick Queries #64
By Richard Rost
16 days ago
What's Coming to Microsoft Access in 2026 In this Microsoft Access tutorial, we'll talk about upcoming features planned for Access in 2026, such as wide monitor support and zoom for forms, as well as Microsoft's development priorities and the realities of release schedules. I'll also address YouTube questions about integrating Access with AI, discuss best practices for indexing and field naming, table and query limitations, and touch on topics like DAO vs ADO, working with SQL Server, and designing genealogy-style databases. Plus, I'll share your feedback and comments from across social media on a variety of Access and database-related issues. PrerequisitesLinksRecommended CoursesUp Next
Keywords TechHelp Access, wide monitor support, zooming in on forms, AI integration, AI agent, integrating with AI, Access 2026 features, large monitor support, zoom slider for forms, report zoom slider, subforms, OpenAI integration, index key suffixes, self-join relationship, genealogy database, SQL Server integration, ADO vs DAO, vector embeddings, tokenization, local AI agent, Copilot plans, database normalization, multilingual database fields, error 4646, passthrough queries, sendkeys scroll wheel, decimal vs double data type
Transcript
We got some news about what's coming to Microsoft Access in 2026, hopefully very soon. Some features like the wide monitor support and zooming in on forms. So we'll talk about that today. Richard Rost, your answers to YouTube questions. We'll talk about integrating Access with AI and making an AI agent for it. Your comments and thoughts on that.
Normally I try to get these quick queries videos out on Fridays, but I got a little busy yesterday and didn't get a chance to do it. So today we've got a special weekend edition just for you.
In my best TV announcer voice: Tell her what she's won, Johnny. All right, enough horsing around. Let's get to it.
First up today, I've gotten a couple of emails from different people about this. One came from Jack, one of my Platinum members in Beaumont, Texas. He asked what's going on with these new features that Microsoft said will be coming for Access soon, like large monitor support and form zooming. They've been saying it's been coming soon since August, and it's now November.
In fact, Carl over at Access Forever just posted yesterday about Microsoft's plans for Access at the German AEK27 conference. They had the Access team, including Linda Cannon, the project manager for Access. They went through the priorities through March of 2026.
Most of the team's efforts continue to go into ongoing maintenance-type stuff, bug fixes, security patches, compliance work, the things that keep Access stable and secure. Beyond that, their main focus is on large monitor support, which includes removing the old 22-inch display limitation. That's one thing that really ticks me off too, because I've got a huge monitor on my desk, and I hate not being able to make large databases with forms that open up across the whole thing. You have to keep to a certain width, both positioning and width size.
One trick you can do is make a form with subforms, and you can make those a little bit larger. But that's still not very elegant. They also talked about adding the zoom slider for forms. And eventually, reports. Yes, you can kind of zoom in and out now at a percentage level with reports, but an actual slider would be nice. They are still developing that stuff.
Here's a whole bunch of, you know, read this article. I'll put a link to it down below. Get integration is coming. Carl summed it up pretty well: Access is still being maintained and improved, even if progress feels slow. Some of these features have been long overdue, but it's encouraging to finally see it all coming together.
Carl also noted that Microsoft has stopped giving firm release dates for new Access features. The team learned the hard way that unexpected maintenance work can derail schedules, so they're holding off on specific promises to avoid disappointing users.
I completely get it. I posted my thoughts in my captain's log yesterday. I've been building software for 30 years, and I know how priorities can shift. Bug fixes for existing software that people are using have to take precedence over adding shiny new features. I also understand not giving dates. I'm the worst person in the world when it comes to dates. I mean, hey, today is Friday's quick query, and it's now Saturday that I'm recording it. So stuff happens.
I used to put release schedules on my website years ago. I'd say, well, you know, Developer 15 will be done by this date or Excel Expert 3 will be out by this date. I stopped doing that because I suck at maintaining schedules. Life happens. I'm a one-man band. I wish I had a team of people to help me develop my lessons and stuff, but things come up. Website crashes, unexpected floods of customer service emails, my dog needs a trip to the vet, or I get a transporter pad full of troubles unexpectedly. So I stopped promising specific production dates years ago. I get what I can get done when I can get it done.
Now, should that same standard be held to a large corporation like Microsoft? Well, that's for you to decide. What frustrates me isn't the pace at which Microsoft has released new features. What frustrates me is that Microsoft doesn't seem to realize what an amazing product they have in Access. With more investment and more vision, Access could be a powerhouse platform for small businesses and developers. But no, it is literally the red-headed stepchild of the Microsoft Office family.
With that said, this update does show that Microsoft is still actively supporting Access, maintaining it, adding new features when possible, and keeping it alive, which is great. They might not be moving at warp speed, but they're still moving forward. For those of us who work with Access on a daily basis, that is awesome news. So thank you, Carl, for the update. I'll put a link to Carl's article down below as well. Go give it a read and make sure you sign up for Access Forever's website or mailing list too. I get a lot of my news from them. They release a lot of good stuff, so check them out.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted a question on social media asking what you would think about having Microsoft Access act as an AI agent that can actually do things. I've done many videos so far on how you can use AI to ask questions of your Access database, how to have it write SQL, and some basic VBA and stuff like that. But what about if you could actually have your Access database do stuff? What if you could say to it, "add a follow up for me to call John Smith next Thursday," and it would just do it? It would know to look up John Smith's record, do a search behind the scenes, find John Smith. Obviously, if there are multiple John Smiths, it would have to say, "hey, you have four John Smiths." But assuming you could find the right customer, then it could create the contact record for you, put the data in and all that based on your commands.
So far, by and large, the feedback has been mostly positive. A couple of people have dissented, like Michael here, who said he's worried about the AI bubble. Now the AI companies aren't making money after five years and billions of investment. That's definitely true. And that the public is becoming okay with poor production quality. Of course, production quality is getting better all the time with AI stuff. I'm starting to see videos that you can't tell. But remember when AI videos first started coming out, first it was pictures. Pictures were always a little bit messed up. They'd have extra fingers or something wasn't right with the legs or the eyes or whatever. Then, that got really good. Pictures are pretty good now.
Videos, it's the same thing. Sometimes the physics are just slightly off or the shadowing is just wrong, but it's getting better. It's getting scary good. And yes, giving your username and password to an AI agent, what could go wrong? I don't know. I've seen too many movies to possibly question what could go wrong.
Matt brings up a good idea, especially if it's a local agent. There's a local version of ChatGPT you can install. I still have yet to do it. I know I talked about it a month or two ago. I've been busy, but there's a version you can actually install and run on your machine. You need a fairly beefy machine to do it, but this way at least all your data and stuff doesn't have to be up in the cloud. So that'll definitely be interesting to see if we can get that to work.
Lots of positive comments too on YouTube. I also post this stuff on YouTube. Emanuel says that tools like Airtable are already performing AI automations. I haven't used Airtable in a while. I played with it a little bit, but I didn't get into this at all. Herger, your sister, yes, it should be used for source code only. Well, yes, it's getting to the point where agents are starting to become much more popular. You're starting to see it a lot where agents will actually do things for you instead of just answering questions. You can say, "do this," and it'll go out and do it. It all depends on how much power you give it. Now, giving it power to do things like create a record in a database isn't that big of a deal. Now, giving it the power to blanket delete a whole bunch of records, that could have negative consequences.
So always make sure you back stuff up. Back up, back up, back up, back up. I always say you've got to pull this trusty slide out every now and then. As long as you've got good backups, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the AI messing things up, but you never know.
No comments on my Reddit group. Those of you who are on Reddit, hook it up. Join my Access Learning Zone subreddit and you can be the first to comment. I just started this a little while ago so it's brand new. The Access Learning Zone discussion group.
Louise says it should be in the core of Access to build solutions with AI, Access, and read complex codes. Yes, it's in Excel, it's in Word, it's not in Access. Redheaded stepchild.
Marina says, please do it. I can't wait to talk to Access. It can't wait to talk to you too, Marina. It's waiting; we just have to let it loose.
No love over on Twitter. Yes, I still call it Twitter. I refuse to call it X. It looks like lots of people have seen it. On LinkedIn, no comments and a few thumbs up, so that's not bad. That was my personal account. I also posted it in my Access Learning Zone LinkedIn group that I started, and we got some responses.
Georgio says he's studying how to develop tokenization and build vector data embedding things. That's pretty cool stuff. Tokenization, basically, the way AI works is it breaks words into tokens, basically subwords. Embeddings are like numerical vectors; it's how AI large language models work. It's not actually thinking, it's just how this mesh network comes together to guess what word comes next. It's complicated. I've watched a lot of videos on this myself on how AI actually works. That's some pretty cool stuff, more than I'm going to get into. I'm fascinated by it under the scenes, but it's a lot of math. That's too much math for me. I like math, I'm good at math, but it just hurts my brain.
Back over on YouTube with a Short. I've been posting Shorts; most of my stuff doesn't work well in short format, but I try these conversation starters as Shorts, and we'll see. I get some comments on these.
Shelley, to help me avoid spending money on several different programs. I mean, that's basically what we're doing. Also, learning how to do this stuff as we go is awesome. You're still going to spend money with Access as an AI agent unless you run it local, which I still haven't covered yet. But if you're using the OpenAI service, you're going to pay, yes, it's usually a couple of fractions of a US penny per AI call, but it can add up. It's not that bad. I use it all the time and I pay like 20 bucks a month, so it's not that bad.
Ron says, yes, databases run up to create forms and reports. Manipulating its own data using AI would be an exciting project. Absolutely. And I might do a full season like I did with the Fitness database. Maybe. We'll see how the, you know, it's all about the views. The free videos that I do as TechHelp videos are all about the views. If people like it and they get a lot of views, I'll keep doing them. If not, and there are people interested in a paid service, then I'll do it as a paid seminar or something like a series on my website about it. But we'll see. I like to put a few free ones out there to see who's interested and then we'll take it from there.
Dingus Baddest says, I'm old school. Leave the AI in the test labs. I don't want it in the real world. The genie is out of the bottle, so it's out there. It's like, you know, the people who said, I'm not interested in this new thing of electricity. I like my oil lamp. Or what's with this computer thing? I like my typewriter. It's evolution. It's change. It's one of those things where it's like, get on the train or get off the tracks.
TechnoManFan said perhaps this could help input data since we don't have much admin support. Yes, I use AI. The one thing I use it for the most is writing correspondence, where I can just kind of word soup. I can just go stream of consciousness and say, okay, I want to write about this, I want to talk about this topic, this topic, this topic. Now put that all together for me in a coherent couple of paragraphs, and it will take all of my seemingly random thoughts and put them together in something that's a little more readable. So it's definitely good for that.
I don't really rely on AI at all to think for me, but I do rely on it to organize my thoughts, where I give it a whole bunch of information and, okay, I want to cover this, this, this, and this. Make me an outline so that my students won't get lost if I teach this in the random way that I usually teach.
No comments over on TikTok. Same thing with TikTok and Shorts is that the short video format just doesn't really work for what I'm doing. I need at least 10 minutes to talk about anything worthwhile. TikTok and YouTube Shorts are for people who have short attention spans, like me most of the time.
That's about all the comments I've gotten so far. Yes, I do plan on doing something with this in the near future. I've got a lot of other projects I want to work on first. This is just kind of a feeler to see who's interested in what I've got. I've got so many other projects I want to do first like getting some Access to SQL integration started. That's coming up very soon here, like setting up a local SQL Server. It's probably the number one topic that people request.
Tell me what you think down below. Do you like these little conversation starters that I do, where I put a question out there and I go over your feedback and stuff like that? Does this interest anybody? Do you want to see this? If so, let me know. If not, if you think it's a waste of time, put that down below too, I'd like to know what your thoughts are. Like I said, the quick queries are all about what you guys have to say, so I really do care what you guys have to say.
Moving on: In Quick Query 62, I mentioned that if you end your ID field with "ID" then Access will automatically know that it can index it because you should make sure that your foreign keys are all indexed, and the way that Access knows it's a foreign key is by having the word "ID" on it. Donald reminded me that there's a setting in Access under Backstage Options, Object Designers, where you can specify what the suffixes are for your key fields. I totally forgot about this setting. It's one of those things where if you don't use it, you forget about it. I think I taught about this one time in a beginner lesson. Decades, literally decades ago. But I always use "ID." I don't use any other suffix. Here they are: ID, Key, Code, Num. You can actually add your own in there if you like to.
Kevin, you also said that it'll generate indices for you in some cases even if the name doesn't contain that stuff, which is true. Over-indexing can be a problem. I have built databases before. Remember every time you index a field, when you look data up, sort, or search, indexing speeds that up. But adding records and editing records now Access has to rebuild that index every time. I've built databases before where I had people constantly, like on the phones, doing data entry and data additions, and they might have run a report on it like once a month. So in that case, you don't want to index too many fields. So it all depends on the database needs.
Next up, got another question in my forums on my website. John says I need to have a query that I have 32 possible fields. How many fields can one query possibly have? 32 is not a problem. Like Donald chimed in, it can have a maximum of 255 fields. That's the theoretical limit, the maximum number. The actual limit that you can have, yes, shouldn't need. I've never built a query or a table for that matter that needed 255 fields, and I've been doing this a long time.
Alex gave the list of Access specifications here. If you actually go to Microsoft's site, they have all this, and I actually have a video I've been planning that's going to go over all of the actual limitations and then the practical limitations, like the number of characters in a table name. Yes, it's 64. Yes, should never have half that many. Number of fields in a table, characters, all these things. Table size, two gigabytes. You've got a two-gigabyte table--that's getting up there. But the limits that Access has are set for a reason, for practical reasons. But there's what you actually will use in a real database, and realistically, you never want to get anywhere near the theoretical maximums.
Once you start adding dozens or hundreds of fields, your query is going to slow down. Your forms and reports are going to get messy. It's usually a sign that your table structure needs some normalization, and if you aren't familiar with normalizing your data, go watch this video. I go over all the details.
In John's case, he's building a database, kind of like a genealogy database, but he's building it for pedigree for dogs, and he needs multiple generations of parents. His first thought was just to add fields across one big table: mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, and so on. But the better design is to have one table for dogs and then a junction table that links each dog to its parents. That way, you can have as many generations as you want. It's a self-join relationship, and that's a pretty form you got there, Gary. I like that.
You can learn more about self-join relationships in my genealogy video. Even if you're not interested in tracking your own genealogy, or any genealogy for that matter, the concepts in this are fantastic. You can use it like in a product database. If a product is based on other products, you can use it with customers with referrals. This person referred these other people who then referred others. Organizational structures. The list is endless of the kind of tree structure that you can create using self-join relationships.
There's no reason to have, for some things like you have people in a database, you don't have to have a separate table for students, customers, teachers, faculty, all that. Just put it all in one person table and give them all different categories. There are lots of ways you can store it. If it's all the same kind of thing, keep it all in the same table.
All right, let's head over to YouTube comments.
Chris says, are there plans to introduce Copilot in Access? Not that I'm aware of. It's not on the roadmap. It's not in any of the official MVP-type or Microsoft forums that I'm in or email lists. As of right now, we're on our own.
I use, personally, I use OpenAI integration because it was first and OpenAI had their API available before Microsoft did. That's the one that I picked. But yes, I mean, if they add it...
This is a comment on my "Don't Lose Data" video. That's not a Microsoft Access video, but it's about data storage in general. In my original video, I mentioned that I had a whole bunch of old CDRs and DVDRs that I found in a box in my storage unit that had to be like 20 years old. I discovered while trying to transfer that stuff to my cloud storage or to my NAS, my network attached storage, basically a big external hard drive, that a lot of those disks are unreadable anymore.
They used to tell you back in the day that a CD or a DVD would last 100 years. That's for factory-pressed CDs and DVDs, not the ones you burn yourself. The CDRs, CDRWs, DVDRs, the ones you can write to, used basically an ink dye that the laser just puts little changes into. You're lucky to get 10 years out of those. As I have, a lot of old disks are no longer readable.
So thank you for sharing your story here, Paris. I'm not going to read the whole thing, but yes, it's a thing. If you've got some old CDs that are re-writeables or ones you wrote yourself, get those transferred to a hard drive now. Disk space and cloud storage space is so cheap now, I just put it all on it. I've got a two-terabyte cloud drive with Google that I store important stuff in. So yes, definitely back your stuff up.
Feathers McGraw Chicken, I love the username, talking about common criticisms of Microsoft Access, says, personally, it's unintuitive and always seems to run into problems with it not telling you what the problem is. I think it's just a different way of doing things. I think a lot of people are coming to Access that are used to Excel. With Excel, there's no rules, there's no guardrails or guidelines or anything. You just type data anywhere you want. So people aren't used to having to structure their data properly and to build tables and to set up queries and all that stuff. It seems unintuitive until you get used to it, then it's the most intuitive thing ever. I've been using it for so many years now, it seems like second nature.
I think it's just a matter of getting used to a different way of doing things than a lot of people are used to. It's certainly much easier than any other database application that I've used, and I've used a lot of them. I think it's the simplest to use and to set up. It's definitely easier than SQL server or any of the older databases.
As far as running into problems but not telling you what the problem is, there are a couple of error messages that are like, you know, error 4646. Okay, what does that mean? I get where you're coming from with that. That usually can be solved with a Google search, and I try to make sure that I've got videos on most of those popular error numbers. If you run into one and you type it into Google and I don't come up with one of my videos, let me know. I'll make a video for it. I think I've got all the big ones. But yes, it's pretty good with its error messages most of the time, but there are some crazy ones in there too. That's all avoidable.
Next up, we got--oh, hang on. I don't speak Spanish. Hold on, one second. I love Google Translate.
Let's see, HP Karnis said I don't know at what point in history Microsoft stopped letting us use DAO instead of ADO and ADOX. I always thought Microsoft had discontinued DAO at version 3.6 and wouldn't provide any more updates. I believe ADOX could handle some tasks better, so just compare.
Yes, ADO and DAO both have their own benefits. DAO, database access objects, is better with working with the data structure internally inside of Access. If you're working with Jet or ACCDB/BEVET files, you want to use DAO. That's my opinion. ADO is better for general database connectivity, talking to other databases, like if you're going to use SQL Server, use ADO, ActiveX data objects.
There was a while when Access first came out, DAO was the default. Then they added ADO and made that the default and everybody had to switch their code over or change their references, which really ticked me off. Then after a couple of years, they reversed that decision and went back to DAO being the default. Why? I don't know, but DAO works best if you're just using Access alone, but you want to learn ADO if you're working with other databases. Would it be nice if they unified everything together? Yes, just like SQL, would it be nice if they unified Access and T-SQL from SQL Server? Yes. Are they going to? Probably not. So you've got to learn both of them. That's just how it is.
Dingus Baddest has an interesting point. He says, if someone wants to go from hobby-builder to professional, the nitpicking your own work would give you a little bit of appreciation for when a customer asks for changes to something you build for them, which in turn would alter the way you approach the development of a solution for future customers. Even if you don't go pro, it's still something to learn from.
Yes, definitely. One of my biggest pet peeves when I was a consultant--and I wrote about this in my advice for consultants page--is that I would painstakingly take the time to sit down with the client and go over what they needed, discuss everything, mock everything up like in Excel. You've seen me do it in my videos before. I make all the fake forms and stuff right in Excel, list all the fields, the tables, all that. Clients look at it and go, okay, yeah, sign off on it, and then you build the database to those specs and then come back, "Well, this isn't really what we wanted." Yes, but that's what you agreed to. So I'm happy to rebuild everything, but it's going to be on the clock. I mean, this is your signature right here. But I get what you're saying. That's why, especially for big projects, if you're a consultant, it's very important to get everything in writing and make sure that everybody's on board with exactly what you're building. Sometimes I've spent more time learning the client's needs than actually developing the software. That's the tough part. Understanding the business is the tough part.
Army WAMER says, can I edit an existing external SQL database server and add tables to it via Access? Yes, once you're connected to SQL Server from Access using VBA, you can modify tables, drop tables, add indexes, create views, all that stuff. You can use passthrough queries. There's lots of stuff you can do. That's why I always say, if you're outgrowing Access as far as a database goes (not the front end, but the data needs underneath), you can connect it to SQL Server and you can do all this with code if you want to, or you can install SSMS, the SQL Server Management Studio, and handle it all graphically, which is very similar to what you're used to working in Access.
I've got a new seminar series coming up on SQL Server for installing it locally in your office. I do have one that works with an online version. This one's all about connecting your Access database to an online SQL Server, like one that is hosted by your web provider. I use Winhost for mine, and then you can upload your data there and then anybody anywhere in the world can use your Access database because your data is online, and just give them a copy of your front end. But yes, you can manipulate the data structure, the tables and stuff, add tables, all that from code.
Next up is a comment from Apollux, sharing something that he experienced when working with multilingual environments. I wanted to share this with all of you because I have absolutely zero experience working with multilingual environments. I only speak English; all the other languages that I know are programming languages. This is something I've never encountered, and if you want to read his whole comment here, you can pause it. I want to thank you, Apollux, for sharing this with everybody.
Basically, he's saying if you've got a database and you've got fields like, let's say your database is initially in Spanish and you've got a field name "Nombre." Then you switch it to English, it can quietly rename some of your fields to "Name." Again, I've never encountered this, but it's definitely fascinating. I'm surprised that they allow Access to do that. Everyone out there, be careful if you're working with different versions and different languages.
Next one, this is hilarious. It's a Microsoft Word video that I did a while back about how to remove line breaks and hard returns from Word documents. I want to share this with you guys because it's funny.
Essentially, in this video, I show how to use a technique where you do a find and replace. You look for these "P" characters, ^P. Those are the line breaks, when someone sends you something in an email or a Notepad document and you want to get rid of all these hard line breaks so that you get the proper word wrap. I just replace those lines--the double line break there--with any kind of weird character in parentheses, XXX. That's just any old random set of characters that shouldn't normally appear in a document. Do that, and then once that's all done, then you replace that code with a normal single line break and your document ends up like this. It's supposed to be okay.
Anyways, Johnny Z said your XXX example to remove paragraph marks works fine unless your document is about moonshine, booze in general, or pornography. I will present that without comment. I got a good kick out of that one. His profile picture is a puppy; that's even better.
In this video about Rich Textboxes and why your scroll wheel doesn't work, I teach you how to use a technique where you can basically use SendKeys to send up and down arrows to scroll up and down the box. I mentioned in that video that there are other ways that are more complicated to do it with API calls. George Commentati says that's good. Thanks. I saw this with API calls. First, I saved the mouse screen position. Then I moved the mouse up or down, moved up the up or down arrow of the scroll bar with an API call. I pressed on at least the left key. Like I said in the video, it's a lot more complicated doing it that way with API calls. If it works for you, that's fantastic, George. I love it. Fantastic. I didn't want to go through all that. I've done it before years ago. I did something with API calls. SendKeys is just easy; it works, it's simple, and I think it gets the job done. But yes, definitely.
Speaking of that, Lars said that he's reassured that even I don't know how to turn off the unmotivated beeping. Yes, when you scroll up and down and it beeps when you're scrolling up and down in a form. No idea how to turn that off. Drives me nuts. If anybody has a way to do it, I'll give you some kind of a prize. I'll figure it out.
John asks, so when I have a percentage, we use double because it is a decimal. Well, okay, the whole point of that video is there are two data types. One is called decimal, one is called double. I suggest, unless you're an expert with Access and you know exactly what you're getting yourself into, don't use the decimal data type. It's got all kinds of weird rules with precision. Stay away from decimal. Use double. Trust me. Just trust me. Watch that video for more information. There's really only two numeric data types you should be concerned with. Use Long Integers for integer-type numbers that don't have a fractional component. Use Doubles if you need a fractional component for, like, a percentage. Don't use decimal. Trust me. So you get more advanced, stay away from decimal.
All right, so that's going to do it for Quick Query 64 folks. Don't forget to check out the Captain's Log where I post my almost daily thoughts about whatever I happen to be thinking about that day. Stop by my merch store, get your peanuts, your popcorn, your cracker jacks, all that kind of stuff. Get your peanuts, get your whatever. T-shirts, mouse pads, all that good stuff. If you set it, you got to forget it.
All right, that's it for this week, folks. I hope you learned something. Live long and prosper, my friends. Enjoy your weekend. I'll see you next time.
Quiz
Q1. What is one of the main new features being developed for Microsoft Access, planned for delivery by 2026?
A. A completely redesigned query editor
B. Large monitor support and removal of the 22-inch width limitation
C. Native support for PostgreSQL databases
D. Automatic database migration to the cloud
Q2. Why has Microsoft stopped giving firm release dates for new Microsoft Access features?
A. The Access team is too small to manage schedules
B. They want to keep new features secret from competitors
C. Unexpected maintenance work can disrupt schedules, leading to missed deadlines
D. There are legal restrictions on announcing release dates
Q3. What is the general focus of the Access team besides new features?
A. Marketing Access to new users
B. Ongoing maintenance work, including bug fixes and security patches
C. Creating new Access templates monthly
D. Adding new fonts to reports
Q4. According to the video, what feature is hoped to be added to Access forms and eventually reports for easier viewing?
A. Custom color themes
B. A zoom slider
C. Multi-user chat integration
D. Live collaboration editing
Q5. What is an advantage of integrating AI agents with Access discussed in the video?
A. Performing fully automated backups without user intervention
B. Allowing the database to execute user commands, like adding follow-up reminders
C. Generating new database files automatically
D. Encrypting all data automatically
Q6. What was one major concern about AI integration, as expressed by viewers?
A. Inability to write SQL code
B. Public becoming desensitized to poor production quality and security risks like giving AI access to credentials
C. Difficulty installing Access updates
D. AI making Access slower to use
Q7. What is the benefit of running an AI agent locally (as opposed to using a cloud-based service)?
A. It is always free
B. All data remains on your machine, enhancing privacy
C. It allows Access to work offline permanently
D. It doubles the speed of database queries
Q8. What warning does the video give when allowing AI to modify database records?
A. AI cannot create new records
B. Never use AI for deleting records, as this is not supported in Access
C. Always back up your database to reduce risk of unintended data loss
D. AI cannot import data from outside sources
Q9. Which suffixes does Access automatically recognize as key fields for indexing by default?
A. Num, Det, Val, Fix
B. ID, Key, Code, Num
C. Tab, Ref, Link, Fld
D. Ind, Row, Col, Seq
Q10. What potential problem can occur if you over-index fields in an Access table?
A. Data will be lost during queries
B. Indexing slows down reporting
C. Database performance can decrease when adding or editing records, since the index must be rebuilt
D. Access will automatically delete unindexed fields
Q11. What is the maximum number of fields allowed in an Access query or table?
A. 32
B. 64
C. 128
D. 255
Q12. What database design concept is recommended to avoid very large tables with many fields?
A. Denormalization
B. Normalization and using self-join relationships
C. Adding multiple primary keys
D. Creating additional unindexed tables
Q13. Why is it often better to keep similar data types (like customers, students, faculty) in one table?
A. Because Access cannot handle multiple tables
B. It simplifies design, avoids redundancy, and makes categorization easier
C. Access does not support more than one table in a database
D. It avoids the need for queries
Q14. What is the current status of Microsoft Copilot in Access, according to the video?
A. It is available by request
B. It is planned for release in 2026
C. There are no official plans to introduce it yet
D. It has been removed from the roadmap
Q15. What is the main difference between DAO and ADO in Access?
A. DAO is for external databases only; ADO is for Access-only databases
B. DAO is better for internal Access database structure, while ADO is better for connecting to other databases like SQL Server
C. DAO is a graphical interface; ADO is command-line only
D. ADO can only be used with cloud databases
Q16. What storage media was discussed as unreliable for long-term storage, requiring users to move their data to hard drives or cloud storage?
A. Floppy disks
B. Factory-pressed CDs only
C. User-burned CDRs, CDRWs, and DVDRs
D. Flash drives
Q17. What is a practical tip given for consultants or those developing for others?
A. Never show clients any design mockup
B. Always get client agreements in writing and clarify project requirements up front
C. Let clients make all design decisions after deployment
D. Avoid using standardized naming conventions
Q18. How can Access be used to interact with SQL Server databases?
A. It cannot connect to SQL Server
B. Only by manual file transfer
C. Through pass-through queries or VBA code to manipulate tables and data
D. Only by exporting to Excel first
Q19. Which data type does the instructor recommend for percentages or numbers with fractional parts in Access?
A. Long Integer
B. Decimal
C. Double
D. Currency
Q20. Why is overuse of the Decimal data type in Access discouraged in the video?
A. It requires special hardware
B. It is slow to display values in reports
C. It has complex rules for precision which can cause issues for most users
D. Access cannot sort decimal fields
Answers: 1-B; 2-C; 3-B; 4-B; 5-B; 6-B; 7-B; 8-C; 9-B; 10-C; 11-D; 12-B; 13-B; 14-C; 15-B; 16-C; 17-B; 18-C; 19-C; 20-C
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
In today's Quick Queries video from Access Learning Zone, I want to share some recent news and updates regarding Microsoft Access, particularly looking ahead to what is expected in 2026. We have some exciting features on the horizon, such as wide monitor support and form zooming, and I will also discuss your comments and questions about integrating Access with AI, along with some general community feedback and questions from subscribers.
First, let's talk about what's coming soon for Access. Over the past several months, there's been talk about upcoming improvements including support for large monitors and the addition of zooming features for forms. Many users, myself included, find the current 22-inch monitor width restriction frustrating, especially if you use wider displays and want your forms and applications to take full advantage of the screen space. There are some workarounds, such as placing subforms within main forms to stretch things a bit further, but these solutions are not ideal.
Microsoft's Access team, as reported recently after the German AEK27 conference, has shared their priorities continuing through March of 2026. Most of their ongoing work involves stability, maintenance, security, and compliance. Bug fixes and keeping Access secure are top priorities, as they should be. Beyond that, large monitor support and a zoom slider for forms (and eventually for reports) are on their development roadmap. Many of us would appreciate a true zoom slider to make navigating complex forms and reports easier.
On the topic of new feature timelines, Microsoft is avoiding specific release dates now. With the nature of software development, unexpected tasks can crop up, and schedules can be bumped by critical updates or security issues, so they're choosing not to make promises they might not keep. I completely understand this decision based on my own experiences managing projects over the years. Things come up: website issues, customer support spikes, personal matters, you name it. For me, this means I stopped putting deadlines on my own tutorial releases long ago. While this philosophy might be more tolerated for a solo operation like mine than for a company as large as Microsoft, sometimes that's the reality of software development.
While progress may seem slow to some, it is still encouraging to see Access getting the attention it deserves. With consistent development, maintenance, and small steps forward, it remains a robust platform for many use cases. I just wish it had a larger share of Microsoft's resources.
Switching gears, I've also been probing the community about access and AI integration. I asked what you all thought about building an AI agent into Access, one that could handle tasks automatically based on your input. Imagine telling your database, "Add a follow-up for me to call John Smith next Thursday," and having it handle everything for you. It could look up the correct contact, handle potential duplicates, create the necessary records, and fill in the details—all from a single prompt.
So far, most of the feedback on this idea has been positive, with a few concerns about the pace of AI development and some healthy skepticism about giving too much power to automated agents. The primary caution is security—if an agent has passwords or data access, it should be carefully controlled. One interesting suggestion was to run AI agents locally on your own equipment rather than in the cloud, keeping sensitive data in-house. This is a promising avenue to explore, though it does require hardware with enough resources to manage the processing.
There were also plenty of supportive comments. Some noted that other platforms like Airtable are already implementing AI automations, and it seems likely this trend will continue to spread. As with any automation, though, it's important to back up your databases regularly. No matter how powerful an AI agent might be, human error or unexpected failures can still occur, so always keep those backups current.
A few people shared their perspectives across different platforms, like Reddit, LinkedIn, and YouTube. The consensus was generally that AI integration could bring big improvements in productivity, even if there are valid concerns about giving too much control to automated systems. Many people said they'd like to be able to use AI for data input, correspondence, and to organize information—without handing over strategic decisions to the computer.
There were additional practical questions, too. Some asked about database design best practices, such as Access' automatic indexing of fields that end with "ID." It's good to remember you can change the suffixes Access watches for if you prefer fields like "Key" or "Code" instead. But keep in mind that too many indexes can slow down data entry and updating, so it's a balance based on your database's workload.
Other questions touched on technical limits, like how many fields a query can have (up to 255, though you almost never want that many), and how to structure databases for things like pedigrees or genealogies. The best practice is to use relationships and self-joins for structures like family trees, rather than sprawling tables.
One common feedback point was about the intuitiveness of Access compared to Excel. Many newcomers find that Access operates in a stricter, more structured way, which can seem difficult at first. However, once you adapt to its approach, it becomes logical and efficient.
I also addressed questions about Access versions and data access libraries. For example, should you use DAO or ADO? Briefly, DAO is best for internal Access databases, while ADO is better for connecting to external databases like SQL Server. Sometimes you'll have to learn both, depending on your project's needs.
A few viewers asked about managing external SQL databases from Access, and yes, you can connect Access to SQL Server and modify structures, add tables, indexes, and more, either through VBA or using management tools. I have seminars on this topic for those who want to get an Access front end connected to a SQL Server back end, both locally and online.
On the subject of multilingual databases, one user reported some unexpected behavior when switching the language version of Access, which could cause field names to change behind the scenes. While I have not run into this, it's useful for those working in international contexts to be aware.
There were also some lighter moments. For example, someone referenced my Word video on removing hard returns with "XXX" as a placeholder, which brought about some good-natured jokes, and others discussed the technical details of scrolling within text boxes in Access forms.
At the end of the day, these Quick Queries are for sharing ideas, addressing recurring problems, and highlighting questions that come up in my forums or video comments. I encourage everyone to keep participating; your feedback shapes what I teach and prioritize for deeper tutorials.
As always, you can find a complete video tutorial with step-by-step instructions on everything discussed here on my website at the link below.
Live long and prosper, my friends.
Topic List
Upcoming Microsoft Access features for 2026
Large monitor support in Access
Removing display size limitations for forms
Zoom slider feature for forms
Zoom slider feature planned for reports
Feedback on AI integration in Access
Concept of AI agent automating Access tasks
Discussion of local vs cloud AI agents
AI automations in database tools like Airtable
Data security concerns with AI agents
Community feedback on Access as an AI agent
Tokenization and embeddings in AI
How AI writes and restructures text for correspondence
OpenAI integration with Access
Indexing fields in Access using suffixes
Customizing key field suffixes in Access options
Performance impact of over-indexing fields
Access query field limits and maximums
Table structure best practices for large field counts
Normalization for database design
Using self-join (recursive) relationships in Access
Genealogy-style databases with self-joins
Combining related persons in a single Access table
Copilot status and roadmap for Access
Choosing DAO vs ADO for database connections
Accessing and modifying SQL Server tables from Access
Using passthrough queries with SQL Server
Connecting Access to an online SQL Server
Handling multilingual field names in Access
Dealing with data type choices: double vs decimal
Scrolling issues in Rich Textboxes in Access forms
Using SendKeys and API calls for scroll control in Access
Unintuitive error messages in Access
Transitioning from hobbyist to professional database developer
Importance of written specifications in Access consulting
Article
In this article, let's explore what's happening with Microsoft Access, the features on the horizon, how Access might integrate with AI, some practical design best practices, and a round-up of user questions and helpful tidbits that can improve your daily workflow.
Starting with upcoming features, Microsoft has announced several improvements planned for Access, with target priorities set through at least March 2026. Among the most anticipated updates are support for larger monitors—which would remove the current limitations on form width and placement—and a zoom slider for forms and reports. These have been ongoing requests from the community, especially with increasing use of widescreen and ultrawide monitors for database work. While you can use subforms to stretch beyond the standard width, that's more of a workaround than an ideal solution. The addition of a proper zoom control would also bring Access forms up to par with modern usability expectations found in other Office apps. Microsoft is still developing these features, and while the company no longer offers firm release dates—in part due to the difficulty of balancing maintenance work and new feature development—it remains committed to maintaining and evolving Access. This is excellent news for anyone who relies on Access daily.
When Microsoft refrains from promising specific feature delivery dates, it's good to remember that even with large teams, software priorities can shift due to bug fixes or urgent security needs. From my own experience, even carefully planned schedules can be derailed by unexpected issues. If you develop database applications, you'll likely understand that stability and reliability must come first, even at the cost of rapid new-feature rollouts. The main thing that frustrates some users is not so much the speed of development but the lack of broader vision and investment in Access as a powerful database tool. Many developers believe Access could be an industry leader for small businesses with a bit more attention from Microsoft.
On the AI front, there's increasing interest in having Access not just respond to questions or help with code, but actually act on user intent. Imagine telling your Access database, "Add a follow-up to call John Smith next Thursday," and having the database search for the correct record, resolve ambiguities (like multiple John Smiths), and automatically create the relevant entry. AI automations like this already exist in tools such as Airtable, and feedback from the community has generally been positive, with some understandable caution about security and production quality. One popular suggestion is running AI integrations locally rather than through cloud services, which keeps your data in-house and potentially reduces subscription costs. If you're considering AI-powered features in Access, always maintain solid, reliable backups. This applies to any automation—you never know when a bug or a misinterpreted command might cause unwanted changes to your data.
When input from the community is considered, different viewpoints emerge. Some users are concerned that AI hype outpaces practical benefit, or worry about entrusting sensitive data to automated systems. Others see a future where AI agents handle routine database operations, potentially reducing the need for manual admin work. The strongest consensus is that while it's important not to over-trust automation, AI can streamline processes such as data entry, report generation, or communication—especially if you give it well-defined, limited permissions.
Turning to database design best practices, one topic that often confuses new users is indexing and field naming. In Access, if you end a field name with "ID," the software assumes it's a key field and may automatically index it. This behavior can be customized under Access Backstage Options > Object Designers, where you can add other suffixes such as "Key," "Code," or "Num." While automatic indexing improves lookup, search, and sort performance, over-indexing can negatively impact write performance, especially in systems with heavy data entry. Always balance indexing against your use case—if you have frequent adds but reports are rare, minimize the number of indexed fields.
A common question is the maximum number of fields allowed in an Access query or table. The theoretical limit is 255 fields per query or table, though in practical terms, you should never design a database anywhere near that maximum. If you find yourself approaching that number, re-examine your data structure—it may be time to normalize your table design. For situations like genealogy or pedigree tracking, use a self-join relationship: one table for all entries (like dogs or people), and a linking table for relationships. This structure gives you unlimited flexibility without sprawling field counts. For example, in a pedigree database, instead of fields like Mom, Dad, Grandma, and so on, you store each dog in a main table and use a related table to identify parents. This approach applies to any scenario involving tree-like hierarchies, such as product dependencies, customer referrals, or organizational charts.
Another question that comes up relates to Access data connections. If you connect Access to an external SQL Server, you can use VBA or passthrough queries to alter tables, add indexes, create or drop tables, and define views—essentially full control over the remote database structure. For local database development, Access is simple and user-friendly, but as your data needs grow, you can use Access as a front end with SQL Server as a robust back end. For more advanced graphical management of SQL Server, use Microsoft's SQL Server Management Studio, which offers a familiar interface if you're comfortable with Access.
In multilingual environments, beware when switching between language versions of Access. There have been reports that changing the application language can quietly rename some field names (for example, "Nombre" might be changed to "Name"). This can introduce subtle bugs or confusion, so if you manage databases in different language environments, double-check your field names after upgrades or version changes.
Some users also ask about the differences between DAO and ADO data engines in VBA. DAO (Data Access Objects) is best for native Access databases (such as ACCDB or older MDB formats). ADO (ActiveX Data Objects) is more general-purpose, good for working with various database systems like SQL Server. For pure Access work, stick to DAO. For broader database connectivity, learn ADO as well.
A best practice, especially for anyone transitioning from casual to professional database work, is to embrace feedback and re-examine your own designs with a critical eye. If you think through changes before users request them, or document requirements thoroughly, you'll save development effort—and client frustration—in the long run.
On the subject of number fields, there's sometimes confusion between the Decimal and Double data types. Unless you are an Access expert dealing with high-precision arithmetic, it's generally safest to use Doubles for numbers with decimal points (such as percentages or financial values). The Decimal type has more complicated rules around precision and often isn't necessary for typical applications. Use Long Integers for whole numbers, Doubles for fractional numbers, and avoid Decimal unless you're sure you need it.
For those dealing with historical data storage, keep in mind that recordable CDs and DVDs (CD-R, CD-RW, DVD-R, etc.) are less durable than factory-pressed disks, and may degrade after 10 years or so. If you have important archives on these media, transfer them to hard drives or cloud storage to avoid unwelcome surprises.
Finally, although Access may seem unintuitive to newcomers, especially users who come from Excel and are used to unstructured spreadsheets, it becomes much more logical with practice. Relational databases require some up-front design discipline (such as organizing data into tables and establishing relationships), but offer reliability and scalability you simply can't get from flat spreadsheets.
In summary, Microsoft Access is still actively maintained, with steady—if sometimes slow—progress towards new features. There's excitement building around AI integration, but plenty of good database practices remain essential for robust and scalable applications. As always, stay informed, keep good backups, and don't be afraid to ask questions or share your own tips with the Access community.
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