Access announces retirement of Database Compare tool in June 2026
MS Access currently ships a standalone Database Compare tool (DATABASECOMPARE.EXE) that enables comparison of two Access databases. As of June 2026, this tool will no longer be distributed and installed with Office. Access is retiring the Database Compare tool because it depends on components that are no longer available and fails to launch reliably on many Office installs. Because we can no longer provide updated components, it will no longer install with new Office setups. This applies to: Access 2019 volume licensed and Enterprise plans Access 2021, Access 2024, and Microsoft 365 subscriptions Access 2021 and Access 2024 as part of the Office 2021 and Office 2024 perpetual licenses (standalone versions) DatabaseCompare.exe is installed typically under the DCF folder of your Office installation (for example, C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office16\DCF\DATABASECOMPARE.EXE), and it often comes alongside Microsoft Spreadsheet Compare as part of Office Professional Plus or Microsoft 365. In addition, supporting DLLs and configuration files are located within the same DCF subfolder. These files handle database connections, reporting, and comparison functions. These files will be removed. If you're running an older version of Office and have a working version of this tool, you can continue to use it until June 20, 2026. After that, it will be removed and will not be available for download. Therefore, we advise you to find a replacement for Database Compare. You can find similar standalone tools that compare two Access databases from other vendors: AccessDiff: This tool easily compares all objects in Access, including forms, code modules, queries, macros, and more. It is designed to help users retrieve lost software and compare all objects in Access databases. AccdbMerge: This tool is an easy-to-use diff and merge tool for Microsoft Access database files. It compares table definitions, data, forms, modules, and more. A free version is available for the main database objects. DataWeigher: This tool compares and synchronizes data between two MS Access databases. It provides a visual result with each type of record (added, deleted, changed) represented by a different color. The comparison results can be saved as a report or SQL script for data synchronization. Total Access Detective: This tool allows you to find differences between any two objects in one Microsoft Access database, including fields, controls, properties, macro lines, module code, and data. It also supports comparing two blocks of text from text files on disk or the text you copy and paste. We recognize this change may require planning, and we encourage customers to review these alternatives and plan a transition away from Database Compare ahead of its retirement in June 2026.Classic LTI App Retirements, Preview of OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas
Classic Microsoft LTI® Apps Retiring in 2026: What You Need to Know and How to Prepare Microsoft is continuing its investment in a unified, modern Microsoft 365 LTI experience. As part of this evolution, several classic Microsoft LTI apps will be retired in September 2026. This post outlines: Which classic LTI apps are retiring and when What happens to existing course links and content created in classic LTIs retiring What actions you should take now to prepare, and start transitioning to Microsoft 365 LTI New migration tooling available to support transition Classic Microsoft LTI® Apps Retiring September 17, 2026 As we shared last September in our Microsoft 365 LTI GA release Blog, the following classic Microsoft LTI apps will be retired on September 17, 2026: Microsoft OneDrive LTI (1.3) OneNote Class Notebook LTI (1.1) Microsoft Reflect LTI (1.3) Microsoft Teams Assignments LTI (1.3) After September 17, 2026, any links or placements of these classic apps in courses will stop working. However, the files, notebooks, assignments, and check-ins created by these classic apps will continue to be available to copy and reuse. Replacements for these classic experiences are now available through the unified Microsoft 365 LTI built on the LTI® 1.3 Advantage standard. This delivers modern security, simplified identity mapping with Microsoft Entra, LMS enrollment and grade syncing, and a single deployment model for LMS administrators. We’ll continue to update our migration guides as additional tools and guidance become available. NEW: Preview the OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas Canvas LMS Customers: We are excited to announce that the Microsoft OneDrive LTI Migration Tool for Canvas is now available in Preview! This tool helps institutions using Canvas LMS migrate OneDrive content links from the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI app to the new Microsoft 365 LTI app — preserving existing file links in courses so educators and students experience a seamless transition. For new preview deployments: detailed deployment instructions are available in the Canvas migration guide, which has been updated with configuration steps and guidance for using the migration tool. If you participated in the private preview: If you have already deployed the OneDrive LTI Migration Tool in Canvas during the private preview, no action is required. Your existing deployment will continue to work as part of the Public Preview, and in GA. If you deployed the private preview in a testing environment, we suggest that you follow the new Canvas migration guide in your production environment. Below is guidance to assist with transition from the other classic LTI apps and on additional LMS platforms. We will continue to communicate updates to this guidance as it evolves. If you use the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI 1.3 with an LMS other than Canvas Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the OneDrive app enabled and guide educators to use the new Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education menus) to create file links or embeds in course content. Disable/hide/remove placements of the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI app in your LMS but do not uninstall or disable the app. Files linked or embedded with the classic Microsoft OneDrive LTI will stop working when the app is retired, so those links and embeds must be replaced using the new Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education) app ahead of the retirement date. OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.1 (All LMS platforms) The new OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.3 integration is now available in the Microsoft 365 LTI app, with automatic roster sync and streamlined setup. Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the OneNote Class Notebook app enabled, and guide educators to use the new app. Disable/hide/remove placements of the classic OneNote integration, but do not uninstall the app to avoid migration issues during transition. While there is no direct migration path from OneNote Class Notebook LTI 1.1 notebooks to Microsoft 365 LTI Class Notebooks, educators can copy sections/pages from one notebook to another using the right-click menu on Sections and Pages (and selecting “Move/Copy”) in OneNote on Windows, OneNote Web, and OneNote for Mac. Instructions are also available for content transfer using OneNote on Mac, iOS, or Android. Microsoft Teams Assignments LTI 1.3 (All LMS platforms) Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the Assignments app enabled, and guide educators to create assignments using the new app. Disable/hide/remove placements of the legacy Teams Assignments LTI app as soon as you install the new Microsoft 365 LTI and enable the Assignments app, and guide you users to copy their existing assignments using the new app. Teams Assignments created by the classic LTI 1.3 app can be reused as in the new Microsoft 365 LTI Assignments experience (which does not require a Team) Assignments created in the LMS or via the Assignments app in Microsoft Teams can be copied and reused using the Create from Existing functionality in the Microsoft 365 LTI (Microsoft Education) Assignment instructor flow. Microsoft Reflect LTI 1.3 (All LMS platforms) Deploy Microsoft 365 LTI with the Reflect app enabled, and guide educators to create new Reflects in the new Microsoft 365 LTI experience. There is no migration path for reflects created in the classic Reflect LTI 1.3 app to the Reflect experience in the new Microsoft 365 LTI Reflect app. We recommend transitioning to the new Reflect experience in Microsoft 365 LTI as soon as possible, and remove the classic app ahead of the September 17, 2026 retirement. Stay Connected We love hearing from you! There are a few ways to stay engaged with Microsoft and your peers on the LMS integrations. Follow this blog! Click Register at the top right to create an account and profile for the Microsoft Tech Community and Follow the Education Blog so you don’t miss any of our updates. Join the free Education Insiders Program to preview updates, get support from other community members, meet the team, and influence the roadmap. Join us for Microsoft 365 LTI office hours to connect with your peers and share feedback directly with Microsoft experts. When: 1st and 3rd Thursday of each month @ 11AM EST Where: https://aka.ms/LTIOfficeHours Getting help and giving feedback LMS and Microsoft 365 admins can contact Microsoft Education Support to help resolve configuration and deployment issues, for themselves or on behalf of users. Educators and Learners can contact support or give feedback directly from the app through the help and feedback menu. TJ Vering Principal Product Manager Microsoft Education https://linkedin.com/in/tvering Learning Tools Interoperability® (LTI®) is a trademark of the 1EdTech Consortium, Inc. (https://1edtech.org/)
Multi-line Text Box misleading text and cursor display
Starting with 365 Version 2603 on 4K monitor, in a multi-line text box, typing multiple words followed by line feeds (Enter key) then moving cursor back up to previous line causes trailing characters to disappear, entering characters at the end of the line shows the new character with the cursor in front of it, and other bizarre behavior. Selecting all the text shows it is all there but trailing characters at the end of a line can disappear depending on cursor position. If I change the monitor resolution to 2K, the issue goes away. If I rollback to version 2602 the issue goes away. This is an issue with version 2603 on 4K monitors. We have many customers reporting the same issue.
Upgrading 365 Personal bought from Google Play
I previously bought OneDrive 365 Personal from the Google App Store and now want to upgrade to 365 Family purchased from Microsoft (to take advantage of the Workplace Discount Programme available from my employer). It seems that I can't do a simple upgrade however - Microsoft Support states If you bought Personal via Apple/Google Play, cancel it there first and wait for it to expire before purchasing the Family plan on the web. How can I do this without losing the 800gb of photos and files currently saved on OneDrive?
OneDrive personal account not signing in 0x800704cf
OneDrive app (Windows 11) personal account has stopped working. Stuck on signing in. After unlinking PC and attempting to sign in again as part of troubleshooting it comes up with a message about not being connected to the internet. 0x800704cf. But the sign in works on a business account on the same PC. Does anyone have a fix? I have tried the following: restarting OneDrive reinstalling OneDrive clearing cahed credentials reseting OneDrive firewall/antivirus disable check check date and time settings web sign in worksMicrosoft Excel Update Changed Formula
I've used Excel for the last 2-3 years to track changes in a sheet by month the data listed is added or changed. The formula I've used worked fine until today, when I started receiving an _xlfn in the formula. It now reads as follows: =IF(ISBLANK($A6),$A2,IF((_xlfn.MAXIFS(A$7:A$41,D$7:D$41,">"&0))>=$A$2,_xlfn.MAXIFS(A$7:A$41,D$7:D$41,">"&0),"")) My goal was to have Excel look if there were updated values in D6 and enter the most recent date associated with that value from A6 to A41. Does Excel no longer support MAXIFS?Increasing Microsoft Graph Per-Mailbox Throttling Limits (PUT/POST/PATCH & Concurrency)
I am referring to the per-mailbox throttling limits documented here: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/graph/throttling-limits#limits-per-mailbox Specifically: 150 MB limit for PUT/POST/PATCH requests within a 5-minute window 4 concurrent requests per mailbox In a multi-tenant SaaS application scenario, these limits can become restrictive when processing large volumes of mailbox data. I would like clarification on the following: Is it possible to request an increase in these per-mailbox limits through Microsoft (e.g., via support or a formal quota increase request)? Are there recommended architectural patterns or best practices to efficiently handle high-throughput scenarios while staying within these limits? Can tenant administrators (our customers) configure or influence these limits through Microsoft 365 admin settings? Any official guidance or recommendations would be highly appreciatedHelp with Excel pop out window
I found a free spreadsheet online that I wanted to use. I am able to manipulated it for my use case. But the original creator added these call out fields that I cannot seem to find out how to delete or change the syntax. I can't even find out what they are called. Any suggestions?? In the attachment, I select a filed and a little yellow box pops up. How do I change or delete these??
Edge Browser Control stealing Focus
I am facing an issue with the Microsoft Access Edge (WebView2) browser control in VBA Office 365. I have two forms displayed side by side: The first form contains a grid/list of records. The second form contains an Edge browser control that loads an HTML file. When a record is selected (or navigated using arrow keys) in the grid, I dynamically delete and recreate an HTML file with details of the selected record, and then call the Edge browser control’s Navigate method to load that file. The problem is: Arrow key navigation works correctly in the grid when the Edge browser control is not used. Once I add the Edge browser Navigate call, the browser control takes focus. After that, arrow key navigation in the grid stops working because focus shifts to the browser. Attempts to manually set focus back to the grid (SetFocus, timers, etc.) are not reliable. Tried this in documentcomplete event also, but not working. The issue seems to be related to the asynchronous behavior of the Edge browser control, which keeps reclaiming focus. What is the best way to reliably prevent or reclaim focus from the Edge browser control so that keyboard navigation in the grid continues to work smoothly?
