We are delighted to announce the release of Total Access Detective for Microsoft Access 2013 and 2016. Total Access Detective lets you quickly find differences between any two databases or two objects in your current database, know exactly what changed at the table, field, property, control, macro line and VBA module code level. You can even compare tables for data differences.
Main Menu for Comparing Two Databases
Add-in Menu to Launch Total Access Detective to Compare Two Objects in the Current Database
The Object Comparison Wizard:
Enhancements
The latest version offers many enhancements from the previous versions:
Support for the 32 and 64-bit versions of Access 2016 and 2013
Module and Text Comparison Option to Ignore Line Numbers
Search Bar to Filter Objects and Properties by Name
See and Filter Tables based on Whether it’s Linked
NOTE: When we downloaded the update for 2016, we received build 16.0.6001.1038 dated 01-Dec-2015. That’s different from the 08-Dec-2015 announcement which described build 16.0.4312.1000 dated 12-Nov-2015. The update we installed resolves the invisible image issue, but we have yet to receive an explanation for the difference.
Microsoft recently released Office and Access 2016. In our preliminary testing and development with the 2016 version, there’s very little that has changed from Access 2013. However, a bug was introduced late in the development cycle that is quite annoying and serious.
Some Images (Pictures) are Missing
If you’ve added images (pictures) on your forms and reports, they may appear blank in MS Access 2016. For example, here’s a form with a picture image that is blank in 2016:
This occurs with the 32-bit version of Access 2016 (16.0.4229.1024) and not the 64-bit version. That’s not a reason to use the 64-bit version, but it is a difference.
Not All Pictures are Invisible
Some images appear properly, while others don’t. With some research, we discovered:
Images that were originally BMP files appear properly
Graphic types such as GIF, JPG and PNG formats become blank
Impacted by the Picture Property Storage Format Setting
Upon further investigation, the problem is associated with the database’s Picture Property Storage Format when the picture was added to the form or report. This is under the Access Options setting for the Current Database:
There are two options:
Preserve source image format (smaller file size)
Convert all picture data to bitmaps (compatible with Access 2003 and earlier)
If the image is added when the option is set to the second option (Convert), the non-BMP graphics do not appear in the 2016 version.
Microsoft is Fixing the Problem
The Microsoft Access team is aware of this bug and fixing it. How long it will take before it’s publicly available is undetermined. It’ll probably be a few months as service packs take a while to get through the Office release process. We’ll let you know when we know.
What to do Now?
If you can’t wait for Microsoft to release a patch and need to use Access 2016 immediately, here’s what you should do:
Set the Current Database, Picture Property Storage Format to “Preserve source image format”
Reinsert your pictures. If your pictures are BMP files, the storage format setting won’t matter
Of course, it’s not easy to find all the places on your forms and reports where this is a problem, then reinsert every picture, especially if you don’t have or can’t find the original graphic files.
Property Slices in Total Access Analyzer Can Help
Our Total Access Analyzer program documents all the objects in your database. While it can’t replace your graphic files, it identifies all the places where there’s a picture property. Whether it’s at the object (form or report) level or its controls, the Picture property shows whether an image file is assigned.
After documenting your database, from the Documentation Explorer, click on the Forms folder in the treeview, select the Property Slices tab, then choose the Picture property. This shows every form and its picture property value. The ones that aren’t “(none)” need to be reviewed:
Similarly, choose the Controls option and Picture property to see this value for all the controls on all your forms:
Press the Design button to put the current row’s form into design mode to make your changes. Then do the same for reports.
Unfortunately, this is quite a hassle for something that should just work. Let us know what you’re experiencing.
In conjunction with the release of Total Access Analyzer for Microsoft Access 2013, FMS is pleased to release updates for earlier versions of MS Access:
Click on the links for detailed information on the new features.
Background
Total Access Analyzer is the most popular Microsoft Access add-in of all time. It provides detailed documentation and analysis of your MS Access databases to help you better understand how your objects work together, detect problems, improve your designs, and enhance performance.
This update is part of the 10th major release of Total Access Analyzer since its debut in 1993.
Free Demo
A demo is available for you to see the types of documentation it generates using the sample Northwind database. Look at the results, filter and search it, and see the reports it generates: Demo Download
Existing Customers
Customers on an annual support contract for Total Access Analyzer or the suites it’s in receive the new versions for free:
FMS is pleased to announce the release of Total Access Analyzer, version 15, for Microsoft Access 2013. Total Access Analyzer 2013 is our 10th major release of this product since its debut with Access 1.1 in 1993.
Total Access Analyzer provides detailed documentation and analysis of your MS Access databases to help you better understand how your objects work together, detect problems, improve your designs, and enhance performance.
Over 300 Types of Issues are Detected
Total Access Analyzer examines all your database objects in detail to find 300+ types of issues including errors that crash your application, unused objects and VBA code, design inconsistencies, and other best practices to maximize your investment in your Access applications.
390 + Professional Quality Reports
Over 390 filterable and customizable reports are available to document your applications and help you develop more efficiently. Reports include table/field dictionary reports, object cross-reference lists, module printouts, application flow diagrams, field and SQL consistency reports, and much more.
Discover why so many Microsoft Access enthusiasts made Total Access Analyzer the most popular Microsoft Access add-in of all time and the winner of every Best Access Add-in Award for decades.
New Features
Total Access Analyzer is now available for Microsoft Access 2013 with many new features:
Supports Microsoft Access 2013, 32 and 64-bit versions
A demo is available for you to see the types of documentation it generates using the sample Northwind database. Look at the results, filter and search it, and see the reports it generates: Demo Download
Existing Customers
Existing Total Access Analyzer customers can upgrade for a discounted price.
The release of Total Access Admin 2013 added many new features. Due to customer demand, we’ve updated Total Access Admin 2003 from version 11.5 to 11.6 to include the new features.
The primary difference between the 2003 and 2013 version is that the 2003 version doesn’t require installing Access 2007 or later on the machine in order to support the ACCDB database format. It supports Access databases in MDB formats and does not require Access to be installed on the PC.
Many New Features
Total Access Admin 2003 version 11.6 includes these enhancements:
Maintain a list to translate computer names to more friendly user names
Manage up to 100 database in one screen (up from 50)
Total Access Admin lets you monitor users going in and out of your databases in real-time. See who’s currently in your database and who recently exited, create a log of connections and disconnects, compact the database after everyone exits, etc. Monitor all the databases across your network from one installation of Total Access Admin.
Many New Features
Total Access Admin 2013 includes many new features. You can now:
Maintain a list to translate computer names to more friendly user names
Manage up to 100 database in one screen (up from 50)
Download the free, fully-functional Trial Version to see how helpful Total Access Admin can be for you.
Supports All Microsoft Access Versions
Total Access Admin 2013 supports ACCDB databases created in Microsoft Access 2013, 2010 and 2007, plus MDB databases created in any version of Access. Existing customers can upgrade at a discounted price.
Microsoft Access MVP, Daniel Pineault, wrote a very nice review of our Total Access Detective program recently. Total Access Detective is a Microsoft Access add-in program that finds all the differences between two Access databases or two objects in one database. Changes with table and query structures, field properties, form and report controls and properties, macros, module VBA procedures and lines of code, and even data are detected.
Daniel found Total Access Detective very helpful when confronted with the challenge of determining exactly what changed between two Microsoft Access databases. Rather than manually and tediously trying to determine what changed, he used Total Access Detective to quickly generate a comprehensive comparison to find objects in one database and not the other, and a detailed comparison of objects with the same name. With Total Access Detective, he was able to pinpoint all the differences and make the necessary adjustments.
We were pleased he concluded with this:
Final Verdict
“I am once again quite confident in putting my stamp of approval on this tool. If you are in a situation in which you quickly need to identify all the differences between multiple databases, FMS’ Total Access Detective will make short work of the job at hand! …
A very nice, easy to use and most importantly, effective and thorough tool!”
We’ve completely revamped our Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing Resource Center. Find links to all our related white papers and Microsoft resources to help you with the SQL Server upsizing process, from deciding why and which Microsoft Access databases to upsize, the different options, and using SQL Server Express.
We have several new and updated resources:
Microsoft SQL Server Express: Version Comparison Matrix and Free Downloads
For the first time, all the different versions of SQL Server Express from 2005 to 2014 are shown, compared, and referenced with download links. This content required extensive research to document the details of which operating system each SQL Server version supports. Just because Microsoft web pages list the versions they support doesn’t necessarily mean it works when you actually try to install it.
When and How to Upsize Microsoft Access Databases to SQL Server
The original version of this was written for Microsoft when they selected us for a joint national campaign a decade ago to promote Microsoft Access to SQL Server Upsizing. We’ve updated it to better explain why and why not people should upsize their Access databases and an overview of what the options are and what to do.
We are delighted to announce the release of Total Visual SourceBook 2013. Total Visual SourceBook is our royalty-free source code library for Microsoft Access/Office VBA developers and Visual Basic 6 (VB6) developers.
The new 2013 version is an upgrade to our Total Visual SourceBook 2007 version. The new version is especially designed for the new features introduced in Microsoft Access/Office/VBA 2013 and 2010. It can also run in Access/Office 2007 and older versions through Access/Office 2000.
New Features
Total Visual SourceBook 2013 includes 35 new modules, 25,000+ more lines of code, enhancements to existing modules including VBA code that’s compatible with 32 and 64-bit versions of Office.
The user code database can now be upsized to SQL Server to simplify sharing code among your developer team. The new version also includes many enhancements to the code browser to simplify your experience in viewing, searching, adding, editing, and applying different error handlers to the source code.
For a complete list of enhancements, visit our New Features page.
Wow! It was only a matter of time, but Microsoft has completely commoditized cloud storage by offering unlimited amounts of storage with their OneDrive service. It’s not even a separate purchase, but part of what’s included in Office 365 for consumer and business customers. It’s not available yet, but will be soon (details).
Wouldn’t Want to be Box or DropBox
This is very bad news for the smaller players in the market such as Box and DropBox who introduced the idea of backing up files to the cloud, sharing files across devices, and sharing files publicly or with specified individuals.
“Free” with an Office365 Subscription
OneDrive now offers this as part of its Office365 subscription at a fraction of the cost of other providers. The previous 1 TB storage limit was already quite generous, but making it unlimited drives the cost to practically $0. It’s clear that Microsoft intends to dominate this space and are giving it away as part of their Office subscription. Very powerful. Competitors such as Google Drive will need to respond. Google has deep pockets, but Box and DropBox do not. Hard to compete against $0.
How OneDrive Works
Simply install OneDrive on your PC and store your files in the OneDrive folder. You can create subfolders and treat it just like any other folder on your device. Those files are automatically backed up to the cloud in the background. There’s no excuse for losing data should your device be stolen or hard disk die.
With OneDrive, you can also share files in individual folders with other people by setting the permissions on the folder. Folders can be open to the general public (no login) for view rights. People often do that with pictures and OneDrive includes features to browse pictures in slide shows.
If you want others to add, edit and delete the files, you need to specify their email addresses so they can log in. Note that their email addresses do not need to be an Office365 account or a Microsoft email so you can work with people using Gmail, Yahoo, etc.
For phones, OneDrive can be used to store photos so you can take pictures on your smartphone, delete them there, and still have them appear on your PC’s OneDrive folder. No need to worry about running out of storage space on your phone or the hassles of transferring them to your PC.
Limitations with Microsoft Access
Note that because the files are copied to the OneDrive cloud in the background of the PC, this is not equivalent to sharing an Access database file across a LAN. If you have a “master” backend database on your PC’s OneDrive folder, it gets copied to the cloud as CPU cycles are available on your PC. If you share that folder with others, the updated database will be copied to their OneDrive folder based on their PC’s availability. While this is fine if the database is read only, if edits occur, this will not synchronize properly. So don’t try to use OneDrive as an alternative to a LAN.
FMS is pleased to announce the release of ![main-menu-2013[1]](/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/main-menu-20131.jpg)
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Microsoft Access MVP, Daniel Pineault, wrote a very nice review of our 
OneDrive now offers this as part of its Office365 subscription at a fraction of the cost of other providers. The previous 1 TB storage limit was already quite generous, but making it unlimited drives the cost to practically $0. It’s clear that Microsoft intends to dominate this space and are giving it away as part of their Office subscription. Very powerful. Competitors such as Google Drive will need to respond. Google has deep pockets, but Box and DropBox do not. Hard to compete against $0.