Does Microsoft Access Have a Future?

I put the question to you, with what you’ve experienced in the past 3-5 years (since Office365), do you feel that Access will survive?  Or has Microsoft put the nail in its coffin?

It is clear, that the shift to continued development and releases by Microsoft has drastically increased the number and severity of bugs that we are all having to deal with and this is true for both Windows and Office.  A few examples just of recent Access bugs, quickly pulled from this site (note I stopped logging bugs as it was becoming too time consuming, so this list is far from complete), include:

So not only has the quantity of issues increased in recent years IMHO, but what is your impression of Microsoft’s response in resolving such issues?

Are they meeting your expectations and resolving them adequately and in a timely manner?

Is this positively or negatively impacting your desire to continue to use Access?

At the end of the day, are you getting the support you expect from your software vendor?

I think their response to problems is more important than simply the fact that they are releasing bugs.  That said, the quantity and severity of bugs is becoming alarming to many (including myself).

For a proper discussion, we also need to explore things like:

  • Compatibility – Access, historically, was exceptional for backwards compatibility!  Now, is that still true?  People migrating to more recent version are finding out that they can’t open their older databases and they need to find an intermediary version to first convert the file format.  Add to that the fact that Microsoft doesn’t sell old versions directly leaving users to struggle to find the proper tools to make such conversions.  Does this impact your opinion of Access?
  • Deprecated features – over the years we have seen numerous features come and go (web apps, web databases, ADP, …).  Does this impact your opinion of Access?
  • New Features – Let’s not overlook Microsoft’s attempts to breath new life into the product by providing some new features (modern charts, new LTM, …).  What are your thoughts here?  Do they meet your expectations?  Is Microsoft listening to user needs with their offerings?  Are these beneficial or a waste of resources?
  • RAD Tool – Does Access remain the goto Rapid Development tool that it once was or are there valid alternative today?
  • Listening to Their Users – You can tell a lot about a company by the way they listen and interact with the clients/users.  What is your opinion of this with regards to Access?  What is your opinion of access.uservoice and other feedback/support services?  Does Microsoft listen?

And how does the fact that Microsoft has developed web implementations of Outlook, Word, Excel, but not Access figure into the overall picture of Access in the long run?

Now that we’ve had several years to get a true feel for the new Office reality, I’d truly love to hear from others about their impressions.  What are your thoughts about Access and its future?  Does it have one in your opinion?

  • Do these continual bugs impact you trusting the Access product?
  • Make you switch to alternate applications?
  • Impact your image in the eyes of your clients?
  • Does this impression extend beyond Access, to Excel, Word, or is this limited to solely Access?

Are you still onboard or looking for alternatives?

What is the future for Access IYHO?!

21 responses on “Does Microsoft Access Have a Future?”

  1. Peter N Roth

    The problem is “updates”. They’re not really updates, but they are changes. Usually without warning. Unfortunately, I drank the Koolaid and am using windows 10, and Microsoft changes MY software without so much as a by your leave. What I want is a stable (i.e., no changes) system. If possible I will stay at the same level forever. Now when windows 11 (or windows >10) comes out, I will not go there. Microsoft will stop changing w10, and my system will become obsolete! YES! STABILITY! LEAVE ME THE F ALONE ALREADY.
    I recently had a bad experience with Microsoft trying to change my Microsoft Office 2010. I deleted MSO2010, and the problems went away. There change system sucks. LMTFAA.
    That prompted me to investigate ubuntu once again. But there’s nothing as good as Microsoft Office there, notwithstanding Free Office versions, so I’m stuck.
    I will not “upgrade”. I will sit at Microsoft Office 2019.
    So my private copy of Access will survive somehow.
    Tom Stiphout said something about other update channels – how do I get on a blocked channel, that’s what I want.

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      Oh I hear you. Sadly, it is impossible to stay static. You can slowdown the update process, but you can’t stop it in its tracks.

      With regards to switching Update Channels, I had originally given https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/odsupport/2017/05/10/how-to-switch-channels-for-office-2016-proplus/ as a link in my article Microsoft Office 365 – Uninstall an Update, but it is no longer valid (thank you Microsoft!). You could still access it through the Web Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20181004081510/https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/odsupport/2017/05/10/how-to-switch-channels-for-office-2016-proplus/. That said, the link may no longer be valid because Microsoft has changed the Channel names, yet again, so the function arguments may no longer be valid. What a nightmare to try an keep up-to-date on!

      This right here is a prime example of extremely poor usability. Why is there no simple GUI to manage Office updates, Update Channel, … we used to have it in Windows 7 and all previous versions of Office. Just saying.

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      De ce que je connais, oui, Microsoft ont l’intention de continuer avec le produit, je n’ai jamais insinué le contraire, mais avec tout les changements, problèmes. demeure-t-il encore ton outil de préférence? Est-ce que tu trouves que Microsoft sortent de très bonne revisions et nouveautés ou sont-ils dans le champs? Es-tu impacté par des bogues? Comment est-ce que l’évolution de l’application depuis la sortie de Click-to-run (5 ans +/-) impacte ton opinion?

      1. Robert Simard

        Personnellement j’utilise Access depuis la version 2 et je me suis confronté souvent à cette question, dois-je continuer à développer avec cet outil ? le VBA est un langage obsolète, mais c’est ça le langage de Microsoft Office !, d’ailleurs pour la plupart des petites et moyennes entreprises, c’est un outil parfait, le développement est rapide et intutif, et en utilisant SQL Serveur comme base de données et le runtime 365, pour ma part il n’y a plus de problème…ou presque, car il reste ceux qui veulent un outil “Web”, mais malheureusement Access n’ira jamais vers cette voix, donc pour eux j’utilise le bureau distant et le RemoteApp.

        Pour répondre à ta question sur l’évolution, c’est là que le bât blesse, l’évolution est presque inexistante, certes on a eu droit à certaines améliorations intéressantes (ex: les graphiques modernes, ancrage, modifier la forme et les themes), mais les contrôles sont désuet, et l’affichage n’est pas adaptatif, il faut utiliser des fonctions de resize et ça diminue la vitesse d’affichage.

        Lors des bogues que évoque dans ton post, c’est le chaos, les correctifs prennent des semaines,voir des mois a être corrigés, j’ai plus de 80 utilisateurs qui tombent systématiquement en panne s’ils effectuent leurs mises à jour et tu connais la suite…. rollback version

        J’espère que Microsoft va tenir leurs promesses qu’ils ont faites sur AccessVoice pour la nouvelle version, entre autres pour les champs de nouvelle génération, l’éditeur SQL Monaco, le resize automatique des fenêtres/champs, Drag&Drop…)

        Bref, histoire à suivre !

  3. erwin leyes

    As for RAD, hands down Access is still the king in desktop db front end development. For me 2003 and 2010 were the the most stable version but 2019 is cool esp the new charts implementation. I think the future of Access is to make it open source. If Access of the future will support web/mobile then its finish.

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      If Access of the future will support web/mobile then its finish.

      I’m curious by this statement. Not saying that they should, but why would these be the demise of Access?

  4. Von

    I am looking for a stand-alone NON-MICROSOFT RAD alternative for multi-user relational databases.
    Anyone have suggestions? Open Source?, Google?, Amazon?

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      I wouldn’t touch Google because of privacy, with them privacy is a word that doesn’t exist!

      Personally, I turn towards MySQL and a PHP driven framework (CakePHP, Zend, Laravel, Symfony, CodeIgniter, Yii, …). This way I’m not tied to any vendor and I can be hosted the end solution on almost any host at relatively minimal cost. Add to that the fact that you can get all the necessary development tools for free. The end result is a true Web App that can then be run on any device, from anywhere in the world as long as there is an Internet connection, or you can also set this up in a private internal network if you don’t want www exposure.

  5. Mark Brooks

    I think Access will still be around for a long time to come if you don’t need the web its great.

    I wonder if in the far future there may be a point where they agree to stop some applications simply because they can’t think of any way of improving it. Lets face it is there anything that you use in Excel 2019 that you couldn’t do in Excel 2003? I would imagine the answer to most people is nothing!

    I am ever grateful to Access for teaching me how to program I still have installations disks for 2003 and until a recent windows update seemed to black list mdbs it was great fast with everything I could ever use.

    I am now moving onto cloud applications based around php asp.net and whatever databases mainly sql server / mysql and postgres. I fully expect the present offerings with cloud providers to keep me going for the rest of my career.

    Cloud Low code development platforms that I am very hopeful for are
    Radzen
    Nubuilder forte
    Php runner and ASP runner
    PHP maker and ASP maker
    phprad

    They all generate non proprietary code that you can add domain specific code to in a somewhat similar way to MS Access (albeit the web does exact a toll in terms of a tax on effort to get things working) however once you have your pipeline up and running it can be quite easy to alter things.

    Nubuilder forte of the above deserves a mention as its open source so you can get stuck into it tomorrow. PHP Rad is very cheap £75 for a year.

    Web is the way the market is going and its getting easier to implement everyday. As long as we are about MS Access won’t die though..

    1. Von

      Way back in the nineties, I made six Access database programs for NASA JPL in Pasadena. A few years ago, I went to a vendor conference at JPL and inquired about the databases. I was told they had been replaced by MongoDB databases. I guess MongoDB is all the rage. It is classifed as a NoSQL database. Anyone have any experience with MongoDB?

  6. Uwe

    Access is great for RAD, and sometimes a more or less well behaving prototype stays alive way longer than anticipated.
    But to develop stuff in the VBA code editor really is a pain, if you compare it to ANY other code editor.
    I really whish they add a few simple functions like for example a highlight of other uses of a variable name.

    And any way to properly use any version control system would help to feel like its the year twenty-something. I would even be happy with svn or any other ancient technology (sorry guys). MS just bought gitHub, please use it!

      1. Daniel Pineault Post author

        It has some interesting feature, but I find just like with Mz-Tools, they’ve gone over board to the point now that you just don’t know where to turn there are so many options. Maybe I’m old and grumpy, but I preferred it when both tools were simpler and more specific in what they did. Mz-Tools V3 is still my favorite.

  7. Joe

    The current pandemic could push Access to the end of life.

    We are a small business and have used Access for the last 20 years, initially just a shared version but then moved over to MySQL with Access as the front end. Works very well for our 20 office based users, especially building forms and queries without much need for to much VBA experience.

    Now the pandemic comes along and the order to work form home hits:
    Phone system – yes works remotely
    Office documents – yes works remotely
    MS Teams – yes works remotely
    On premises MySQL with Access front end – does not work remotely

    As a small business we don’t have the expertise or the $$$ to move our backend system to the cloud, we were quite happy having it securely located in our office and everybody was happy in the office.

    So my opinion is that Microsoft will be looking at the move to working form home and see that the writing is on the wall for Access.

    By the way, any advice on what to do with getting a MySQL database and Access front end to move to something more cloud friendly would be appreciated.

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      Why not export you db, get a cheap domain and hosting, import it there and connect to it. Then it will be accessible from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection. Cost, say 20$ domain, 5-10$/month hosting and you’re up and running.

    2. Steve

      While not perfect, have you considered SharePoint as a backend? No issues working remotely, if you lose WiFi everything synchronises when it is restored plus everyone has their own copy of the Front End.

      Before someone shoots me down for the mere mention of SharePoint as a BE, we are using the system I have just described with absolutely no issues. Yes, there is some code to write for to maintain referential integrity but apart from that it works fine.

  8. ForssPeterNova

    I just red MS Roadmap 365
    “Access: Dataverse Connector
    We are providing a collaborative platform for you to integrate your data and applications into the cloud/mobile-based world through Dataverse while continuing to preserve the Access Desktop value. This opens a realm of opportunities to share and collaborate on your apps & data in our consistently growing Teams and Power Apps/Dataverse ecosystems.”

    This is a step into the future. Or?

    1. Daniel Pineault Post author

      Microsoft does seem to be pushing Access in this direction. The issue with CDS is you have to migrate your data and then it is no longer in Access. Personally, if I’m going to migrate, at this point in time, I would be much more likely to go to Azure SQL. CDS is a work in progress, time will tell.

  9. ByterBit

    Access 2003 is still the best version.
    Clearly no one at MS cares now about users getting work done.
    I made my living with VBA and Access from 1996 to around 2010 – when MS began to butcher the product. I fled to MYSQL, Linux and PHP – and every time I look back at MS and Access I’m amazed at the idiocy.

    The only way to make a living with an MS product is not to use it.