Up until this point, Access has supported command buttons with text or a picture, but never both at the same time. This has been a long standing request from users: the capability of showing both the caption and the picture. In Access 2007, you will notice...

As I previously mentioned, we are now exposing Import/Export Specifications (Imex Specs) in the OM in a thorough manner. We also took the time to make importing and exporting less repetitive in the UI. In the past, to make use of Imex Specs, you had...

Even though most of the information on how to customize the Ribbon in Access 2007 is already out , there are two recurring question that I've been seeing being asked often: How can I customize the Office Button Menu (aka File Menu)? We allow you...

In previous versions of Access (such as Access 2003), you can save the steps from an import or export operation into what we call Import/Export Specifications (Imex Specs). After saving it, you can always load it back so you don't have to customize the...

Now that Access 2007 Beta 2 Technical Refresh (B2TR) is out, you will notice that we changed the Switchboard Manager functionality. Now that we have Disabled Mode and Embedded Macros , it was about time we revisited the switchboards that the Switchboard...

Now that we spent all this time talking about templates, how about we put to use something we learned about it in a totally unexpected way? Remember that we talked about how embedded macros are really represented as SaveAsText/LoadFromText alongside objects...

Now that we discussed extensively all about templates, we can talk about how this all this can be put at your service. You see, we will give you the capability (though not in the Access product itself - details will be forthcoming soon, hopefully)...

Now that we talked about what Access 2007 templates are made of and how Access makes use of them to create brand new databases, it begs the question as to what you can programmability-wise. The answer to that question lies in the fact that we changed...

When you go create your new database from a template using Access 2007, you will notice a checkbox right by the OK button and path where you will create the file. By checking the “Create and Link your Database to a Windows SharePoint Services Site”, instead...

No, that is not a new franchise opening near you. So far we talked a lot about what templates are, how we use them and all, but where are they? Well, they are actually in different locations in your hard drive. Do you think we would make this easier...

As we’ve seen in the previous posts, Access 2007 templates are not really database files per se, but simply a set of data and meta-data that will allow Access to create a brand new database file every time. At a high level, the process to instantiate...

Now that we saw how macros, queries, forms, reports and tables are persisted in templates, we can ask: what about embedded macros? Since embedded macros live in the event properties of form, reports and controls, they are persisted along with the...

Last week I talked about how the template core data is laid out. Now, I’ll focus on the actual Access objects. For every Access object part (each file in template\database\objects), there is a corresponding” XML file in the \template\database\objects...

Before we dive into the way the Access Objects are persisted in the Access 2007 template files, I thought it would be best if we talked briefly about the Application.SaveAsText and Application.LoadFromText methods and what they generate and read in, respectively...

In my previous post, we cracked open an Access 2007 template file. For this post, I’d like to delve into the / template/database folder, where pretty much all the template content resides. In the root of this folder you will notice four files...

(This post was pre-recorded. I'll follow up on any comments when I'm back). Since the Access 2007 template files are Open XML files, you can easily crack them open to take a peek. These are really ZIP files, so you can simply copy the ACCDT file...

(This post was pre-recorded. I'll follow up on any comments when I'm back). This is really a brief overview of the terminology around Open XML files before we actually look at how it applies to Access 2007 template files. First of all, Open...

Perhaps one of the most significant improvements to Access 2007 when it comes to ramping up to using Access are templates. Unlike previous version of Access (like Access 2003), where upon starting you would be greated by a blank window, in Access 2007...

As you probably saw in Erik's post , making a completly custom Ribbon is basically an XML exercise with some VBA or Macro glue code. In case you'd like to see this in action, the VSTO (Visual Studio Tools for Microsoft Office System) team have a video...

In case you'd like to get some free quasi-training videos, Microsoft is making available some of the videos for the Microsoft Office System Developers Conference 2006. The full list of videos is here . Two of the videos are directly related to Access...

In Access 2007, memo fields have now the capability of collecting change history. When you change an append-only field's data, the change and time stamp are recorded and appeneded to the version history of the field. To enable this feature, first you...

This is something that I have been guilty of in a number of ocasions. If you run into any bugs or issues when using any pre-release (and to some extent, even released) software, make sure you report them to the manufacturer. Do not expect it to get reported...

This is sort of old new by now, but in case you didn't give it a try yet (or couldn't because Microsoft's servers were too busy), you should use the Office 2007 Beta 2 Test Drive a try. It is very cool way to try Access 2007 without having to worry...

Another addition to Access 2007 is a new version of the old Field List dialog/toolbar. Besides retaining the old functionality of adding fields based on the record souce, the new task pane adds a couple of new features. For starters, you can now see...

Another misconception that I read is regarding the new Ribbon interface: some people apparently are expecting the tabs on the ribbon to change completly as the context changes. This is very untrue: each of the tabs in the ribbon are pretty much fixed...