New to Access
Hello! I am new to MS Access, and currently looking for some advice in working the program. In using Access, I am working with a team that has data in arts and crafts projects that fall under many different categories, which are being exported from Excel. I’ve attached an image of what this data looks like, but I’ve also explained it below. For instance, the data might be sorted into something like 5 fields, those being: project name, square inches, client name, and weight. An example would be: Project 1, 100 sq inches, Client A, 50 lbs Project 2, 200 sq inches, Client B, 100 lbs Project 3, 300 sq inches, Client C, 150 lbs Etc. Then, we’d have a second collection of data that would branch off of the first set. For instance, the data might be sorted into something like 4 fields, being: brand new design, concept design, restoration, or simple cleaning. Finally, a third set of data would branch off of this information, detailing that each of the aforementioned categories have their own data. Such as, brand new design projects use X brand of glue, Y brand of paint, and are always Z color. Whereas, simple cleaning projects might use a totally different brand of glue, paint, and color. Now, my question is, is it possible in MS Access to be presented with all of the data based on what I ask for? Such as, say, I want to view all projects that have used X brand of glue. Am I able to create a database that will pull that up? Or if I wanted to view all brands of paint used ONLY in cleaning projects? Essentially, is it possible to create a database that can show me any combination of information based on what I ask for, creating relationships with one another to search both forwards and backwards with simplicity? If so, what research should I do to approach this, or what other direction do you suggest that I go in if it is not possible? I appreciate the help :)
Access VBA performance dramatically slowed since June Update
We are running an access based application with a large vba project. One customer with four different instances of this project experience extreme slow down in performance on all instances during the last week. We made no changes. The Microsoft Office Update was applied automatically. We believe the problem happened then. We have tried reverting to several different previous versions of Office but symptoms still remain.Regression in v2606: continuous forms redraw/flicker on main form
As soon as I installed Version 2606 (Build 16.0.20131.20012), all of my continuous subforms on parent forms began constantly redrawing and flickering, making the application almost unusable. Reverting to Version 2605 (Build 16.0.20026.20140) immediately resolved the issue without any changes to the database. I have since disabled automatic updates and am remaining on Version 2605 until this issue is addressed. Has anyone else experienced this problem with Version 2606? Is this a known bug, or has Microsoft acknowledged the regression?
Text Truncation in Access Report Controls
Around May 14, 2026, we began experiencing text truncation on the right side of text box controls in Access (Office 365) reports. Approximately 2–4 characters are cut off whenever font size is below 10pt. All reports in our environment are affected and the problem was not present prior to May 14. We ruled out layout as a contributing factor by verifying page size, margins, report width, control dimensions, padding, and layering were all correctly set. No layout changes resolved the issue. The problem does not occur when font size is set to 10pt or higher, suggesting the update affected font metric calculations for small font sizes. Steps taken without resolution include adjusting all report and control sizing properties, testing multiple default printer configurations including Microsoft Print to PDF and Adobe PDF, and verifying Windows display scaling was set to 100%. If anyone has any solutions, please let me know! Thank you for your time.
Regression in v2605: Subform with overlapping controls breaks timer in unrelated form
I found another issue (sorry) which might be caused by the zoom-related changes in 2605. The following repro example works fine in 2604 (Monthly Enterprise Channel) but breaks in 2605 (Current Channel). Again, this issue is unrelated to zooming itself. Prepare database The repro requires three forms and a few controls. Since those are tedious to get right manually, I wrote some VBA code to do that for us. Execute BuildRepro() in the Immediate Window to create the forms and controls. Option Compare Database Option Explicit Public Sub BuildRepro() CreateFormASubform CreateFormA CreateFormB End Sub Private Sub CreateFormASubform() Dim frm As Form Dim ctl As Control Set frm = CreateForm() Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acTextBox, acDetail, , , 345, 1140, 1746, 260) ctl.TabStop = False Const textBoxTop = 260 Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acTextBox, acDetail, , , 56, textBoxTop, 270, 270) ctl.TabStop = False Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acImage, acDetail, , , 56, 0, 270, 270) Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acCommandButton, acDetail, , , 60, 795, 5895, 260) SaveAndClose frm, "FormA_Subform" End Sub Private Sub CreateFormA() Dim frm As Form Dim ctl As Control Set frm = CreateForm() Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acSubform, acDetail, , , 100, 100, 3000, 3000) ctl.SourceObject = "FormA_Subform" SaveAndClose frm, "FormA" End Sub Private Sub CreateFormB() Dim frm As Form Dim ctl As Control Set frm = CreateForm() frm.TimerInterval = 1 Set ctl = CreateControl(frm.Name, acLabel, acDetail, , , 100, 100, 5000, 1000) ctl.Name = "my_label" ctl.Caption = "Waiting for Timer..." frm.HasModule = True frm.Module.InsertText _ "Private Sub Form_Timer()" & vbCrLf & _ " Me.TimerInterval = 0" & vbCrLf & _ " Me.my_label.Caption = ""Done""" & vbCrLf & _ "End Sub" frm.OnTimer = "[Event Procedure]" SaveAndClose frm, "FormB" End Sub Private Sub SaveAndClose(ByVal frm As Form, ByVal newname As String) Dim oldname As String oldname = frm.Name DoCmd.Save acForm, oldname DoCmd.Close acForm, oldname DoCmd.Rename newname, acForm, oldname End Sub Run repro 1. Open FormA. 2. Open FormB (while FormA is still open). Expected result: FormB opens completely, the timer runs and the label reads "Done". Actual result: FormB opens "halfway" (it's visible, but it's tab is still missing, see screenshot below) and the label still shows "Waiting for Timer...". As soon as you right-click anywhere, the form finishes opening and the timer runs, changing the label to "Done". Notes: I tried to make the repro as simple as possible. If you remove one of the controls from FormA_Subform (or enable TabStops), the problem disappears. It might have something to do with overlapping controls: If you change textBoxTop from 260 to 280, so that it no longer overlaps with the image, the problem also disappears. We need the overlapping controls because in our real code the subform is continuous and displays data at different indentation levels (like a treeview).
Access selecting specific date on a calendar
I'm pulling my hair out because everything I've found through my research says my VBA code should work, but it doesn't! Here's the story. I have a calendar (form) that shows events going on for each month. What I want is for a person to click on a specific day and have a pop-up form appear showing more details of the events for whatever day they clicked on. I used the below code, which mostly works... When I click on a date, the month and year will be correct, but not the day of the month. The day of the month is always today's day. For example, let's say I click on the day Feb. 2, 2024 and today's date is May 21, 2026. My pop-up form will show the events for Feb. 21, 2024. This is the code I have: Private Sub lblTue3_Click() Dim txtSelectDate As Date (probably don't need this) Dim iDayOfMonth As Integer Dim iMonth As Integer Dim iYear As Integer Dim dSelectDate as Date iDayOfMonth= Format(Me.txtSelectDate.Value, "d") iMonth = Format(Me.txtSelectDate, "mm") iYear = Format(Me.txtSelectDate, "yyyy") dSelectDate = CDate(iMonth & "/" & iDayOfMonth & "/" & iYear) DoCmd.OpenForm "frmThatContainsMyData", acNormal, , "[DateOnFormUsedForFilter]=#" & dSelectDate & "#", , acDialog Update: I think I figured out where the problem is. When the calendar form is loaded, that's where txtSelectDate is defined. However, I don't know how to define txtSelectDate to whatever date I click on in the calendar. It defaults to today's date when I load the form. When I change the month or year, those number change in the txtSelectDate box, but not the day. This is the code I currently have. (DisplayMonthName displays the month and year; don't think it's part of my issue) Private Sub Form_Load() Me.txtSelectDate = Date Call DisplayMonthName End Sub Any help is greatly appreciated!Tab header font issue when the "new zoom" feature is enabled
We found a curious font display issue, which can only be reproduced if the "new zoom" feature flag is active: We can reproduce it with build 20026.20076 with the zoom slider visible (e.g. in the "Current Channel (Preview)"), but we cannot reproduce it on the same build with the zoom slider invisible (e.g. on a freshly updated system in the Current Channel, which has not received the staged rollout yet) or with older builds (e.g. the current Monthly Channel build). The problem itself is unrelated to zooming. Repro 1. Create a new Access database. 2. Create a new form in Design View. 3. Add a Tab Control. 4. Set the tab control's "Use Theme" property to "No". 5. Add a button with the following code: Private Sub Command3_Click() Dim start As Double ' Localize the page name, if you use a non-English version of Access Me.Page2.Visible = True ' Simulate long-running operation (3 seconds) start = Timer Do Until Timer > start + 3: Loop End Sub 6. Save and open the form in Form View. 7. Click the button. Expected result: Nothing happens for 3 seconds. Actual result: The tab header's font switches to some old raster system font (MS Sans Serif?). After 3 seconds, the form returns to the 21st century. This issue is easy to work around: just do the long-running operation before setting the Visibility property, this will reduce the font-change to a short flicker. Still, this appears to be an unintended side effect of the changes made for the "new zoom" feature, so I thought it might be helpful to report it while that feature is still being worked on.
How to change the color of each pie chart slice in access?
I need to set standard colors for Pie charts in our Access database. Currently, this is what I see. But our organization has standard colors used in other applications and want to use it in access charts as well. I am also attaching a screenshot of the chart settings. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Stumped on auto populate staying in a combo box
This is embarrassing. I’ve been building databases since 1999 and now I’m stumped I have an MS Access database with a combo box that is used to select specific records. These records have two particular fields. A primary key named “Track” and a value associated with it called FTitle. Track is a numeric field and FTitle is text. FTitle shows the job title. I had this working beautifully on a database for six years. Go into the combo box, start typing in the FTitle and it would auto populate with an FTitle name. I've checked everything. Auto expand and everything else Two things are happening here. I cannot get an autopopulate combo box to work. It works when I make it. Then when I reopen the form it stops working. I tried to add options to the existing front end which autopopualted perfectly. It seems that when I added a subform to the form the combo box auto populate on stopped working. Any advice??
