In the span of a single week in July 2025, the Microsoft Access community suffered the loss of two iconic forums: UtterAccess and Microsoft Answers. UtterAccess, which began in 1997 as AThree.com (Access All Areas) and rebranded in 2002, was a treasured hub for Access developers and enthusiasts worldwide. It offered decades of collective knowledge, sample databases, code, and expert advice—becoming an essential resource for tens of thousands of users.
Microsoft Answers, a broader Microsoft product forum active for over 15 years, officially shut down around this time with users being guided to Microsoft Q&A, and this closure was clearly announced to the community well in advance. Sadly, the Microsoft Q&A is a VERY poor replacement for the former.
What made the loss of UtterAccess particularly striking was the lack of any prior notification or explanation before the site went offline. This sudden disappearance caught many longtime users off guard, leaving a significant void in the Access support ecosystem. Unlike Microsoft Answers, which at least had a transparent transition plan, UtterAccess vanished with no warning, underscoring concerns about how independent community resources are managed and preserved amidst Microsoft’s evolving support landscape.
Together, these two closures mark a profound shift in where Access users and developers must now seek help, and they highlight the fragile nature of community-driven forums critical to sustaining niche technical expertise.
Both will be missed by a great many.
Access World Forums (https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/) is still alive.
Most of the contributors from UA are also member of that forum.
Then there is also https://www.accessforums.net and vbaexpress.com.
Thanks Arnel. These and more are on my Forums and Discussion Groups page that I referenced at the end of the article.
Was dumbfounded until I googled and read your post here. A darn shame. It would be ideal if the code libraries and such can be preserved on a read-only site, or create a MS-Access Code Library site, so all the work hundreds of people have done doesn’t go to the wind.
I agree, but I’m afraid I don’t think that will happen and site archival services don’t help here because after Jack took over the site you needed to be logged in to access the downloads.
On a whim I decided to check-in on UtterAccess today to find that it was off-line and I’m sad to read that there was no warning about it closing down. I was the person who set up athree.com all those years ago.. When I needed to close my site and the original forums I was hugely relieved that someone stepped in to take them over and continue what I started. It became a much, much bigger thing under its new owner.
Whilst I had stepped away from Access development work by the time I handed it over I did like to check in occasionally to see if any old faces were around. It is the true end of an era and I’m sorry for everyone who still used the forums at the end that it is no more.
Firstly, thank you for everything you did for the Office/Access community!
Sadly, the issue was when Gord ‘retired’ from UA and transferred it to Jack it was a fundamental mistake, not in the sense of Jack’s abilities or initial interest, but more in the fact that now only 1 person was in control. It needed to remain as it previously had been with multiple admin so if there were any issues with one person, others could step up. As we’ve just seen, with only 1 person with all the control, the site was doomed the minute something happened to them. All of this could have been avoided very easily. Just sad.
Thanks Daniel and I had no idea that Gord had passed it on (or any idea who Jack is).
It is sad but I remember the financial and emotional wall I’d hit with the original forums before Gord rescued it (and me!) and maybe Jack just saw no other way to let it continue.
I will always treasure the memories of both A3 and UA and the communities they built and I’m eternally grateful that strangers came and spent considerable time helping others for free.