Microsoft released Office 2024, their latest Long Term Service Channel (LTSC) version. LTSC is the perpetual license of Office available as a one-time purchase rather than the subscription-based Office 365. Office 2024 succeeds Office 2021, the previous perpetual license version.
Total Access Emailer is the most popular email program for Microsoft Access. Easily send personalized emails to everyone in your table or query. You can even attach filtered reports as PDF files for each contact.
Total Access Emailer uses industry standard SMTP to send emails bypassing the limitations of Outlook and sending messages from multiple FROM addresses. A popular SMTP server is Google Gmail with their free and paid Workgroup accounts.
Google Gmail SMTP Protocol Changed
Google sends emails with its SMTP server at smtp.gmail.com. A few years ago, to increase security, Google required users to explicitly set Gmail accounts to allow Less Secure Apps for this feature.
Starting June 1, 2022, Google no longer supports Less Secure Apps for sending SMTP emails which they consider to be a security hole. To address this, they offer two options.
Creating and using a Gmail App Password
Using Google Gmail API OAUTH 2.0 protocol which is ideal for organizations with paid Google Workspace accounts
Total Access Emailer and the Google Gmail SMTP Server
We are pleased to announce the release of updates to Total Access Emailer that support the new Google Gmail protocol requirements.
Whether you run it as a Microsoft Access add-in or through its VBA Runtime Library, Total Access Emailer supports using a Google App Password or a Google email API Client ID and Secret ID with OAUTH 2.0 authentication.
From the Options form’s SMTP Settings tab, there’s a new section for Gmail Authentication which launches a Wizard to load your account:
With the Professional Version’s royalty-free VBA runtime library, you can set this up and deploy it to others, or your users can authenticate it with their own Google Client account using a new procedure to support this.
Instructions for configuring Google Gmail SMTP with Total Access Emailer are here:
These versions are now shipping with support for the increased security protocols for Google Gmail and Microsoft Office 365, plus many other New Features:
Total Access Emailer is the most popular email automation system for Microsoft Access. Total Access Emailer uses your SMTP server to send emails. A popular choice is the SMTP server provided by Microsoft Office 365’s Exchange Server.
Total Access Emailer and the Office 365 SMTP Server
Assuming the account is properly configured to relay email messages (Mailbox Delegation), Total Access Emailer has supported Office 365 since it was introduced.
Over the years, Microsoft has increased security on their site and adjusted configurations for their SMTP server. You can connect via SMTP protocol using an approved IP address or Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol for a specific email address.
In the last week, we confirmed that Office 365 and Windows made changes that cause Total Access Emailer to be unable to send emails with its TLS connection protocol with an error like this:
SMTP protocol error: TLS 1.0 and 1.1 are not supported
The message implies the need for TLS 1.2, but recent versions of Total Access Emailer already support TLS 1.2.
If you are having trouble using TLS protocol, the SMTP protocol still works for Office 365. You need to authenticate your IP Address where you’re sending the emails. Remember to use the Temail.txt to store the FROM email address to use for validation as instructed in the referenced page above.
We realize that is not possible for all the environments of Total Access Emailer users.
New Versions of Total Access Emailer
This has accelerated our ongoing development for a new version of Total Access Emailer to address the new protocols. Our development team has already created a solution that is working with the new protocols and hope to release it, as soon as it completes thorough testing. We expect to release these Access 32 and 64-bit versions:
New Product:
Total Access Emailer 2021 for Access 2021, 2019 and the current Office 365 version
Updates:
Total Access Emailer 2016
Total Access Emailer 2013
Total Access Emailer 2010
New versions are now available! Visit the Total Access Emailer page for more information on the new features or ordering information.
Receiving the New Version
Customers on Premium Support Contracts will receive a free update for their version when it is available. Existing customers will be able to purchase an upgrade at a discounted price.
Microsoft confirmed the Microsoft Office security update released on Tuesday (December 14, 2021) causes Microsoft Access databases on shared drives to be locked after users exit the database. This prevents other users from opening the database and multiuser database sharing. Customers reported errors like:
Could not lock file (Error 3050)
Could not use 'Admin' (related to workgroup security)
This file is in use. Enter a new name or close the file that's open in another program.
Several issues appear to be happening:
The first person opening the database is successful but an exclusive lock is placed on the database preventing others from opening it.
The Access lock file (*.laccdb or *.ldb for ACCDB and MDB databases respectively) is not being deleted after the last person exits the database. This makes the database seem like it’s still being used.
This can also impact workgroup security files (*.mdw) that also have their *.ldb lock file.
From Microsoft:
This is due to the December 14, 2021 (Patch Tuesday) update to Office. The problem was introduced by a security fix, so it impacts all active versions of Access.
We are working on a fix, and will deliver it as quickly as
possible.
The update has only updated a small percentage of users, and we are pausing automatic updates.
This problem is even in the Semi-Annual Channel which is never supposed to include such poorly tested changes.
To avoid such problems, disable automatic updates. While this is a drastic step, Microsoft repeated failed to release stable updates thereby causing more problems than they fix.
Microsoft Office Update Version 2107 (Build 14228.20204) Breaks Applications using the Access Database Engine (ACE)
Background
Last week on Tuesday July 27th, Microsoft Office released version 2107 (Build 14228.20204) to Current Channel customers. It updates the Access Database Engine (ACE) ACEDAO.dll that supports connections to Access databases.
From Access, Account, next to the About Access button is your Version, Build and Channel
Problem
Unfortunately, this broke applications outside of Office such as Visual Studio and other programming platforms that rely on ACE to open Access databases. Programs include Microsoft programs such as PowerBI, SQL Server Management Assistant (SSMA), in addition to programs from other organizations that support Access databases. Errors like this appear:
The operating system is not presently configured to run this application
The error can be triggered in Visual Studio .NET with a single line of code that initializes the Access database engine: dbe = New DAO.DBEngine
The error occurs before opening any database because the core database engine fails. Even worse, having the code in a Try..Catch block doesn’t trigger the catch. It stays in an infinite loop requiring the need to close the application from the Windows Task Manager. Ugh!
Total Access Admin lets you monitor who’s connecting and disconnecting from Access databases across your network.
Our database administrator program, Total Visual Agent, automates Microsoft Access database tasks like nightly compacts.
They include EXE and DLL programs that run outside of Access and rely on ACE to support your databases. They may fail if Office/Access 365 is installed on the machine with Current Channel and ACE was updated.
This Happened Before
This is particularly disappointing because the same problem occurred in September 2020 when Office released version 2008 (Build 13127.20296). It was fixed when version 2009 (Build 13231.20262) was released.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a solution once this Office update is installed on a PC other than going back to a prior version. Visit Microsoft’s pages for instructions:
On the update history page, you can see the prior versions. Reverting back to the last Monthly Enterprise Channel version 2105 (Build 14026.20334) from July 13, 2021 works.
Change Your Update Channel
From experience, we can attest that using the Current Channel causes too much disruption. To eliminate the chance of this happening again on your PCs, you can turn off all updates, then manually update when you want:
From Access, Account, click the Update Options button and choose Disable Updates
The downside is this may leave your PC vulnerable to security problems that the updates address. It also prevents bug fixes and new features Microsoft adds to Office 365 over time. You’ll need to remember to come here and click Update Now periodically.
We are excited to announce the release of Total Access Memo 2021! Total Access Memo lets you add rich text format (RTF) memos to Microsoft Access with sophisticated editing and spell checking. Our super-easy data binding means you can display rich text on your forms and reports and store it in your tables.
Give your users the ability to add text with different fonts, point sizes, fonts styles (bold, italics, underline, etc.), bullet points, tabs, paragraph margins, indentations, alignment, spacing between paragraphs, color, graphics, hyperlinks, etc .
Total Access Memo 2021 is an upgrade from the 2007 version and includes these enhancements:
Support for 64-bit Versions of Access/Office including 365
Backwards Compatibility
Improved Rich Text Editor
Enhanced Sample Database
Updated Manual and Help File
New Setup and Distribution Programs
Download the free trial to experience it for yourself.
Existing Total Access Memo owners are eligible to upgrade at a discounted price.
Contact Tracing is critical to minimizing the spread of COVID-19 in your community. Coronavirus infections are particularly dangerous to vulnerable populations such as retirement homes, elderly family members, medical providers, and front-line service personnel. By collecting and managing the data of your population, you are prepared if and when an outbreak occurs.
The FMS Advanced Systems Group developed Sentinel Visualizer to visualize complex relationships hidden in traditional rows and columns. For instance, schools can store relatively static data on their students, teachers, staff, classes, clubs, sports, siblings, family members, etc. When positive tests occur, one can find common links to quickly identify those who need to be tested and quarantined while limiting the impact on the wider community.
Ebo Quansah from the Microsoft Access Team announced problems with decimal fields using the current Microsoft Access Build 12827.20010 that was released with the Monthly cycle. Decimal fields are not commonly used in Access database files, but they are used in linked SQL Server tables.
June 24, 2020 Update
The Microsoft Team has announced that the Decimal Field issue has been fixed in all channels.
Current Channel – Version 2005, Build 12827.20470 (User may need to force a manual update to get the version.)
Current Channel (Preview) – Version 2006, Build 13001.20198
There’s a new build update (13001.20198) released on June 18, 2020 for Current Channel (Preview) that has been reported to solve the issue related to using SQL/VBA to write to a Number Data type with a Decimal field size.
June 8, 2020, from Ebo Quansah
Very soon, we will ship a new data type, known as Date & Time Extended, which enhances syntax compatibility with SQL while increasing accuracy & level of detail in date & time records.
While the feature is not yet enabled in Current Channel builds, most of the code for the feature is in the product in an inactive state. Nonetheless, we are aware of a problem that currently exists with this new code. As of today, if you are on version 2005, build 12827.20010 or greater, and you manipulate Decimal fields (Access DataType=Number/FieldSize=Decimal, or SQL DataType=Decimal) using DAO (Data Access Objects), you might have identified your app crashing.
If you hover a variable with the type in VBA code, you may see that the field is not being displayed properly; either reading as ‘?????’ or giving a Type Mismatch error, or Access may crash.
We are very sorry for the inconvenience this causes in your Access app. The Access team is working on resolving this issue as soon as possible, and we will report back to you once this error has been fixed. In the interim, we’d recommend for you to roll back to a previous version (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/2770432/how-to-revert-to-an-earlier-version-of-office-2013-or-office-2016-clic), or switch to a slower channel (e.g Monthly Enterprise Channel, or SemiAnnual Channel), until the issue is fixed in Current Channel.
The issue only impacts Decimal types so if avoiding DAO code that manipulates Decimal types is possible, we’d advise this as a short term solution.
FMS President Luke Chung was a presenter at the Virtual Microsoft Access DevCon 2020 in Vienna, Austria on April 23, 2020. He gave a presentation called “Remote access to Access“, which is available for everyone to watch.
If you missed the event, you can visit Virtual Access DevCon 2020 to watch all the presentations giving by all of the speakers.
Luke Chung’s video presentation
Remote Desktop and RemoteApp let your users run Access applications without having to installing anything on their local machine. That includes Access, the database, and any related programs. It lets users run the program across the network or Internet, from their PC or even a Mac. There are different approaches depending on whether the host is internal or in the cloud, and for backend databases in Access and Microsoft SQL Server.
PowerPoint Slides for the Presentation
Special thanks to Microsoft Access MVP Karl Donaubauer, who hosted the fourth annual Access DevCon and made it an online event during the COVID-19 lockdown.
An important announcement from the Microsoft Access team addresses the problems with connecting to Access ACCDB databases from other programs.
The ACCDB database format was introduced with Access 2007 and offered a new Access Database Engine (ACE) for external programs to connect to it. Connecting to the earlier MDB database format was never an issue because that requires Data Access Object (DAO) which is part of Windows.
Connecting to Microsoft Access Databases Outside of Access
ACE was available when Access 2007 and 2010 were installed. However, later Access versions sandboxed ACE so only Office could use it. It prevented other programs, including Microsoft programs such as PowerBI and the SQL Sever Migration Assistant (SSMA), from using it to support ACCDB databases.
The solution was to separately install the ACE Redistributable which provided ACE OLEDB (Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.16.0, or Microsoft.ACE.OLEDB.12.0). That was a hassle and complicated because
Not every user had permissions to install it
Installations were 32 or 64-bit specific
Even if it were installed, it could be out-of-sync with the Access version that is installed.
This was especially frustrating because when Access is installed on the machine, it includes ACE but simply didn’t allow other programs to use it. And because Access/Office 365 was constantly being updated, its version of ACE may support features that the redistributable didn’t, creating conflicts.
ACE is Now Available with Access
With this Microsoft announcement, ACE is now exposed and available for external programs to use it.
If you have Office 365, or click-to-run versions of Access 2016/2019 Consumer installed, you no longer need to install ACE to support external programs.
This change enables previously unsupported scenarios, including Microsoft programs, to connect to Access ACCDB databases without installing ACE. It eliminates incompatibility issues between different versions of ACE. It also helps our programs Total Access Admin, Total Access Startup, and Total Visual Agent connect to Access ACCDB databases directly.
Google sends emails with its SMTP server at smtp.gmail.com. A few years ago, to increase security, Google required users to explicitly set Gmail accounts to allow Less Secure Apps for this feature.
