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Access Blog
2 MIN READ

Feast your Eyes on our Access Query Improvements!

Ebo_Quansah's avatar
Ebo_Quansah
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
Apr 21, 2020

One of Access’s most powerful capabilities is querying, which pulls information from many tables to assemble and connect data points that can then be arranged into a form or report. Several Access customers have successfully leveraged queries to generate better insights and make mission-critical business decisions. They have also learned quite a bit more about its deeper technical functionalities over time, including its ability to perform calculations, automate data management tasks, or add, change, and delete data from an existing database. 

 

Because of its significance in creating successful Access applications, the Access team is proud to announce the following enhancements to the Querying user experience.

  1. Find and replace dialogue in SQL View – you can now search for and replace SQL text!

 

  1. Mouse Wheel scroll in relationship window – you can now scroll vertically and horizontally (SHIFT + Scroll) in your relationship window as well as in SQL view with your mouse wheel.

 

  1. Right-clicking a table to design and size it and open in design view – we have implemented additional right click options, including the ability to open the table in design view, and to automatically size the table based on its corresponding text.

 

  1. Auto-size tables by double clicking its edge – you can also auto-size your table by double clicking its edge.
      1. Double click right edge to auto-size horizontally.
      2. Double click bottom edge to auto-size vertically.
      3. Double click bottom right corner to auto-size both horizontally + vertically.
  1. Multiple table select in the Relationships window – you can now select multiple tables at once and perform various actions on them in a relationship window. Selected tables are highlighted in red, as shown below.

 

This is just our first phase of query improvements, as we already have many more in scope for the future. Therefore we would love to receive your feedback.

 

We always appreciate hearing from you, and we look forward to receiving your responses.

Updated Apr 21, 2020
Version 5.0
  • Gemartinez's avatar
    Gemartinez
    Copper Contributor

    Good work, I have a list of features that I will want to see in ms Access, for example: I would like to have the possibility to use any font installed on Windows. It would be nice with more functions or tools to design the graphical user interfaces.

  • KansasKid's avatar
    KansasKid
    Copper Contributor

    I would like to see focus on form aesthetics as well as touch and tablet features. I develop a lot of point-of-sale Access systems for retail and repair technicians that walk around with tablets.  The scroll bars are too small to manipulate by finger and overall form sizing and navigating are clunky. I think this is a great opportunity for Access to become a touch and tablet friendly platform for MS Access developers.  

  • DoryO's avatar
    DoryO
    Copper Contributor

    This morning I was still copying SQL out of a query into Notepad++ to search/replace

    ...only to realize later that is a new feature in query editor.  WHAT?!  Can autoformatting the SQL be far behind. :stareyes:

    I missed Ebo's talk online in April, just watched it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyhJDW8RO8w&feature=youtu.be

    Also enjoying the new Linked Table editor to edit SQL Server connections...very nice.

    Love all the new features. Keep 'em coming!

  • Dplaut's avatar
    Dplaut
    Copper Contributor

    Can we please have an SQL editor with a decent size font? Or make it user customizable.

  • BenSacherich, Thanks for your questions;

    1. Upon selecting multiple tables in Relationship view, you can manually move them to align in the format of your choosing. You can also "size to fit" all selected tables at once if you wish; however there is currently not a feature to automatically align all tables across the top/bottom of screen or at the left/right columns. This is a great recommendation that the Access team will take into consideration when we plan our next round of query improvements.

     

    2. Yes, improvements #2-5 are all available in the query designer layout.

     

  • BenSacherich's avatar
    BenSacherich
    Copper Contributor

    If you select multiple tables in Relationship View, will you be able to "align top", "align left", etc?   Do these features carry over to the Query Designer table layout?