Forum Discussion
Microsoft Office 2019 Now Available – Comparing 2019 vs 2016 vs 365, New Features in Access & Excel
- Nov 15, 2018
That said, you can install Parallels (with Coherence Mode enabled) or VMware Fusion (with Unity mode enabled) on a Mac and use that to run Microsoft Access inside of a native Mac window as if it was a native Mac app (though, under the hood, it uses Windows virtualization).
In a similar fashion, you can use RemoteApp, a form of Remote Desktop which allows many simultaneous users to connect to the same Windows Server (or PC) with Microsoft Access installed, so that all they ever see is the launched application Window, appearing on their own PC, iPad, Mac, Android, web browser or mobile device via an RDP client, allowing full-screen, almost native app-like use (full screen on in an app window, without ever seeing a Windows desktop or having to launch the app from it).
Server Bandwidth may be more of a constraining factor with RemoteApp-based Access usage, limiting the maximum number of effective simultaneous users for different reasons, and can sometimes result in lag and/or reduced frame rate (which may or may not be noticeable) especially with very slow cellular connections, even if the database operations themselves end up running much faster than with a typical multi-user Access database deployment via VPN / network share folders.
However RemoteApp does provide its own performance and reliability benefits, such as a much reduced chance of database corruption. It can allow the Access database transactions/queries (and underlying JET/ACE/Access database engine) to operate as if each client has the database located locally on their own PC (assuming you locate it on the same server/PC hosting RemoteApp, though in some cases even if not) resulting in the database itself performing like it would if you were to open multiple instances of Microsoft Access with the same database (saved to your local drive) at the same time on your PC. RemoteApp presents a tradeoff (vs. VPN multi-user deployment) with bandwidth usage and performance being more fixed/constant, meaning higher bandwidth usage even idle (vs. VPN) for all users but potentially lower bandwidth usage or latency in cases which would otherwise be slow on VPN (such as with heavy data processing/updates).
Though RemoteApp is designed for Windows Server use, it can be hosted from any Windows PC (for running in the background while using that PC), though limited to just 1 connection at a time for Windows PC vs. up to 255 simultaneous connections (or much higher if using a SQL Server database backend) with Windows Server. RemoteApp can even enable simultaneous use by many mobile devices (such as iPads) over cellular connections.
That said, I've implemented a workaround for that limitation, as part of the PowerAccess All-in-One Toolset & Framework for Microsoft Access solutions platform, with tools for simplifying RemoteApp deployment and even enabling hosting from a single Windows Desktop PC (workstation) instead of just Windows Server, which avoids additional licensing costs and complexity. I have, through this method, enabled Microsoft Access to run on multiple iPads, Macs, phones and even in Web Browsers simultaneously (with full-featured, touch-optimized support for the same Access Forms, Queries, Macros used on Windows desktop) based on one Microsoft Access installation on a single Windows desktop PC.
In this way, through RemoteApps for mobile/web/Mac use and Parallels or VMware Fusion for Macs, Microsoft Access can be used on Macs, iPads, Android, Web Browsers and mobile devices, as a viable alternative to PowerApps and the like, for or most clients and use cases, which typically than 255 different users connecting to and using the same Access database at the same time, and for which an unlimited number of authorized potential users are supported.
You can use either of the following 2 formulas in Excel to accomplish what you had asked about, so that the first non-blank date cell is returned, either in Sheet1 A4 (preferred) or else Sheet1 A1, or else, if both are empty, then the result is an empty string, so that the result is also a blank.
=IFS(NOT(ISBLANK(Sheet1!A4)),Sheet1!A4,NOT(ISBLANK(Sheet1!A1)),Sheet1!A1, TRUE, "")
=IF(ISBLANK(Sheet1!A4),IF(ISBLANK(Sheet1!A1),"",Sheet1!A1),Sheet1!A4)
As you can see this common use case is far more complicated than it should be. That is, in part, why I had developed PowerExcel AI Tools & Power Functions Add-in for Excel (www.PowerExcel.net), which is an install-free (JavaScript-based) and workbook embedded Excel Add-in which brings dozens of new functions for use in formulas, enabling the following instead:
=FirstOf(Sheet1!A4,Sheet1!A1)
PowerExcel also provides other functions like IsNotBlank, IfsOr, IfsOrZero, IfsOrBlank and dozens of other powerful, intuitive and convenient functions for Excel, as well as a number of new Dynamic Array functions (which can return multiple results which can spill over into multiple cells automatically).
Similar to the new functions provided for formulas in PowerExcel, PowerAccess All-in-One Toolset & Framework for Microsoft Access (PowerAccess.net) provides hundreds of new PowerSQL functions for Query Design and hundreds for MS Access, along with dozens of new tools and common database features.
The PowerExcel AI Add-in and the CrushErrors.com AI Excel Add-in and Cloud Platform are two new install-free Excel Add-ins which automate and simplify creation of Pivot Tables (auto-generated with template support), Power Query, Slicers, Interactive Dashboards & Charts, Named Table / Range / Column use, Split & Merge (for Spreadsheets, Folders of Workbooks, Row Groups), Pivot / Unpivot, Duplicate Removal, Fuzzy Lookup / Merge / Compare, Data Prep / Transform, Finance, Accounting, Reporting, Reconciliation, QuickBooks, converting Hierarchical / Multi-dimensional data (eg. accounts with rollup grouping or indentation levels from Hyperion, OLAP cubes, etc.) into usable form (for Pivot Tables, Grouping, Filtering), as well simplifying and automating daily use of Excel — all through machine learning guidance and artificial intelligence, which understands your data and learns from your actions and Pivot Table and other designs to automate what is otherwise tedious and make it auto-maintained instead of broken whenever columns names or orders are changed or differ.
Hi DanMoorehead_PowerWeb5AI! The Dark Gray & Black Office Themes need configuration for use in Access. Please let me know if there is a better place to comment on this. (Image provided) I really like the Dark Grey theme, but as a frequent MS Access user I have to switch to white or colorful in order to function in the query UI.
- DanMoorehead_PowerWeb5AIJul 31, 2019Iron Contributor
oliviadudley
You have a good point.I would suggest you submit a feature request for changing Dark Themes to have improved readability with font colors used on UserVoice for Microsoft Access, as the official site for adding feature/change/bug fix requests for Access.
If others vote for it, then Microsoft may have address it. You can then post a link here or elsewhere suggesting others vote for that feature (or they can do so if searching for existing similar requests to vote for).
You can also vote for and comment on other feature requests there, as well as on the other User Voice sites for Microsoft Excel suggestions and Office Developer Platform suggestions (for Office.js, VBA, Add-in development, VSTO, and the like).
Comments can also help to encourage others to vote or provide details later on (as can't edit once you post) or to provide details on why this should be considered important.
I hope that helps,
Dan
--
Dan Moorehead
CTO, PowerSheet.ai BI for Excel
PowerSheet.ai ● LinkedIn ● Twitter ● Facebook ● YouTube ● (206) 792-9969 ● dan.moorehead (Skype)
Free Easy AI-powered BI, Data Cleaning & Collaboration in Excel & Online
● Business Intelligence ● Reporting ● Collaboration ● Data Cleaning ● BI Dashboards ● Database Building ● Forms ● Accounting ● Financial Reporting ● Cloud Templates ● Instant Version History & Compare ● Collaborative Editing Anywhere/Offline ● Web Publishing in ● Excel ● PowerPoint ● SharePoint ● Online