What's new in Access for Microsoft 365

Latest updates for Access

Open queries in SQL View from the Navigation Pane

Based on your feedback, we’ve added a new option to the right-click menu for query objects displayed in the Navigation Pane. You can now select SQL View here to go directly into SQL View for your selected query.

No need for the extra step to first open the query in Datasheet View or Design View.

Large Address Aware in Access

The 32-bit version of Access for Microsoft 365 has been updated to be Large Address Aware (LAA).

This increases the maximum address space available to Access from 2 GB to 4 GB when it is running on a 64-bit version of Windows. This is especially helpful when running complex Access applications.

Don't show the warning for opening linked tables in Design View

Based on your feedback, we’ve added a new option to the warning message that appears when you try to open a linked table in Design View. You can now select Don't show this message again if you don't want Access to prompt you with this message every time you try to open a linked table in Design View.

You can turn the message confirmations back on by selecting the Linked/ReadOnly tables option in the Confirm section of File > Options > Client Settings.

Open more tables and connections

Based on your feedback, we've increased the maximum number of open tables from 2,048 to 4,096. We've also increased the maximum number of available connections from 256 to 512.

See Access specifications.

Code sign your Microsoft Access database and VBA code

We've enabled the Tools/Digital Signature command within the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for current Microsoft Access database formats. Signing a database allows VBA code in the database to be run even if Trust Center settings specify that only digitally signed code should be enabled.

See Show trust by adding a digital signature.

Try the new Edge Browser Control

Use the new Edge Browser Control to specify a URL and show web pages on a form.

See Use the Edge browser control on a form.

New Northwind Starter and Developer Edition templates

These two new templates are designed to teach anyone the fundamentals of how to use Access as a database. Using a sales tracking system, it introduces many Access capabilities like forms, a main dashboard, and reports with charts. The Developer Edition expands on the Starter Edition and shows advanced techniques on how to build rich solutions using Access.

See Northwind 2.0 Starter Edition and

Northwind 2.0 Developer Edition.

Access Dataverse Connector with Power Platform

Unlock new capabilities organizations need and want like mobile solutions and Microsoft Teams integration. Keep the value and ease of use of Access together with the value of cloud-based storage.

See Get started: Migrate Access data to Dataverse.

Macros in Access databases from the internet disabled

VBA macros are a common way for malicious actors to gain access to deploy malware and ransomware. Therefore, to help improve security in Office, we’re changing the default behavior of Office applications to block macros in files from the internet.

See Macros from the internet are blocked by default in Office for more information.

Refresh, relink, or remove linked tables

The updated Linked Table Manager is a central location for viewing and managing all data sources and linked tables in an Access database. From time-to-time you may need to refresh, relink, find, edit, or delete linked tables. This is because of changes to the data source location, table name, or table schema.

See Manage linked tables.

The Date/Time Extended data type has better precision

We’ve implemented the DateTime2 data type into Access to enhance syntax compatibility with SQL to increase accuracy and level of detail in records that include dates and times. The DateTime2 data type includes a larger date range (0001-01-01 through 9999-12-31) with higher-specified time precision (nanoseconds, rather than seconds).

See Using the Date/Time Extended data type.

Improvements to SQL View

Use the Find and Replace dialog box in SQL View to search for and replace text in an SQL statement, which is especially useful for long statements.

See Improvements to Query Designer, SQL View, Relationships window.

Improvements to the Relationships Window

Quickly adjust the table size to reveal additional fields and relationships, select a subset of tables and relationships, and scroll horizontally and vertically by using the mouse scroll wheel.

See What is the Relationships window? for more information.

Improvements to the Query Designer

We’ve added new time-saving options for table objects. In Query Design View, right-click to select Open, Design View or Size to Fit.

See Improvements to Query Designer, SQL View, Relationships window.

Pick the perfect color

Based on your feedback, we’ve added a new input field in the Colors dialog for Hex color values. No need to spend time converting Hex color values into RGB values.

For any property where you can define a color in Access, you can now enter a Hex color value in the Hex box, for example, #0F4C81 or 444.

Add tables with fewer clicks

Use the Add Tables task pane, which stays open while you work, to add tables to relationships and queries.

See The Add Tables task pane.