It’s very rare, actually this is the first time, that I am authorized to share some news of upcoming changes/upgrades to MS Access. Usually, this stuff is all kept under wraps and I find out at the same time as the general population, that is to say when they roll out.
Large Number (BigInt) is rolling out |
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| The Large Number data type stores a non-monetary, numeric value and is compatible with the SQL_BIGINT data type in ODBC. This data type efficiently calculates large numbers.
We expect customers will start seeing this new data type towards mid-March. Update 2017-03-06 |
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dBase file support to Access 2016 (MSI) |
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| Listening to our customers, we will deliver dBASE file support to customers running single license installs of Access 2016.
This will be available with Windows update in the coming couple of months. |
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What’s New Panel |
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| We are aligning Access with the rest of Office apps and integrating a new feature that is used is used to help introduce users to new features after the user downloads a monthly update to their app.
The expected flow for users is that they should see the What’s New Panel the first time they launch an app after they download an update. Users will also be able to access the What’s New Panel manually by going into File -> Account. |
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ACE 2016 Redist |
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| In the next month or so we will release a new ACE 2016 Redist that will be available for download from Microsoft download center. It can be installed sxs with Office C2R, and will also include the ability to connect to dBASE. | |
Access 2016 Runtime C2R |
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| We heard a lot from customers (especially Enterprises) that not having Access 2016 RT C2R is a major pain point for them (as they couldn’t install Access 2016 RT MSI sxs with their O365 subscription).
Next month we’ll make an Access 2016 RT C2R version available for O365 subscribers. |
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Help Articles |
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| We have been getting great support from Jeff Conrad’s team on creating new Help content and updating existing content for new features.
To name just a few –
What’s New in Access 2016 article As you all know, the team has been working hard on releasing new features, reinstating Access as an Office first class citizen, making it more accessible and more. The ’What’s new in Access 2016’ article has been updated with all the new changes that we’ve introduced since September 2015. In addition it has been dusted off, and given a new shiny coat with chrome accents. Check it out here and feel free to share J
dBASE file support A content gap that we’ve had a for a decade, has been filled by creating and publishing two new support articles for dBASE file support: Note that when viewed within the Help Viewer, you only see the content relevant to your version. If you view the articles on the site, you’ll see info for all Access versions.
Large Number (BigInt) support We are creating new support content (and updating relevant existing articles) to be published with Large Number when it’s rolling out. |
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Keep up the good work Access Dev team! Would love to see even more updates rolling out the door. Some of the more recent access versions still need tweaking, especially the 1811 office version which has a major issue with it’s relationship to ntdll.dll. These updates give our business the confidence to continue using your software.