Updating to a New Version of Microsoft Access
Many of our clients have used their Microsoft Access applications for a long time and depend on those applications continuing to work when updating from one version of Access and Office to another. Most times, those upgrades don’t affect Access application operation no fixes are needed. Sometimes, updates cause problems. We’ve converted over 100 Access applications between Office versions, including moving from Access 97 to Access 2019 and just about every combination in-between, with complete success.
Access Update Conversion Issues
Some of the most common Access conversion issues we’ve seen involve coding work that’s straightforward for an experienced Access developer but just not very obvious. These include:
- Replacing missing fonts (such as older system fonts from Access 97)
- Missing MS Calendar Control
- Missing MS Common Control
- MS Graph control problems
- Missing DAO library
- Conversion from legacy menus to Ribbon Bar menus
- Older print-to-PDF libraries (Lebans) no longer work or produce unexpected output
On the other hand, remediating certain conversion issues may involve significant code rewriting and testing. These include:
- Dropped support for ADP (Access data project) format
- Dropped support for workgroup security
- Unable to convert directly from Access 97 format to newer ACCDB format
- Undetected corruption in older MDB database formats
- Database replication options don’t convert
- Dropped support for some external data sources
- Dropped support ta access pages
- Applications written for 32-bit Access may need to be partially rewritten for use with 64-bit Access.
At minimum, any time an Office upgrade takes place, we strongly recommend the following:
- If possible, pilot the upgrade on a single PC and test all functions.
- Make full backups of Access application files before the upgrade.
- Don’t use different Access versions with shared applications and concurrent users.
- You might not be able to convert from 32-bit Office to 64-bit Office if an Access application and any libraries it references are also 64-bit compatible.
Windows 10 and Office 365 Special Considerations
Microsoft Windows 10 and Microsoft Office 365 have more frequent upgrade cycles and different delivery channels for operating system and application upgrades. This can create unexpected issues such as the “Query is corrupt” error due to the KB44844127, KB4484119, KB4484113 and KB3085368 updates. These issues might involve fixes that only your IT support or experienced Microsoft Access developers like us can fix.
Contact Call Us for Help with Your Access Application Conversion
If you find that your application doesn’t work correctly after a Microsoft Office upgrade, we urge you to call us to help you get the problem resolved as soon as possible. Using your application in a crippled state can cause even more problems become increasingly difficult to fix. We’ll help get you out of your jam and back up and running!
Our Core Microsoft Access Services
New Development
Enhancing Your App
Bug Fixes and Error Remediation
Performance Improvements
Microsoft Office and Application Integration
Web Integration
Version Upgrades
