Downloads

* Updated -- Mar 31, 2026 A frequent request in Access forums is a search function that works like the "contains" searches common in web sites. A "contains" search returns all instances of a field where the search term occurs anywhere in the string. For example, a "contains" search for "gus" would return names containing those three letters: First names like "Augustus" or "Gustav" as well as Last names like "Ferguson" and so on. I achieve this result by using TempVars to filter on multiple fields. This demo shows you how to implement the query and set the tempvars.

Updated: Mar 31, 2026

* New -- May, 12, 2020 Sometimes I learn something while trying to answer questions on an online Access forum. This was one such occasion. I really appreciate the poster's persistence in pushing me to a solution. The original request was to display an animated GIF on a form in Access. My first thought was, unfortunately, "That's a bad idea." However, after an exchange of ideas with the original poster, I realized this could be a pretty good idea and one worth pursuing. The result is this demo. An animated GIF can be displayed in a web browswer control. That means the image file must be stored in a location to which all copies of the Access Front End accdb have permissions. Or copies of it can be saved to the same folder where that Access FE accdb resides on each user's computer. Either way, the animated GIF can be displayed at the beginning of a long-running process and hidden again when that process completes. I will leave it to you to try out other approaches to implementing this feature, such as dynamically loading different animated GIFs for different processes, or changing the size and location of the web browser control to maximize use of form spacing. * This version supports both 32 bit & 64 bit Access.*

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- April 3, 2021 Search a specified Folder for .csv and .xls and .xlsx files. List them in your Access relational database application. Link to them with the click of a button. * This version supports both 32 bit & 64 bit Access.*

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- April 14 2020 Contact Manager is a completely revised and updated version of an application I built for a client several years ago. It tracks: Companies with whom you have contacts. Individual Contacts at those companies, with contact information. Calls to your contacts. Meetings with your contacts. In this version, many outdated methods were replaced with more flexible methods, primarily based on TempVars and IIF() functions to eliminate the need for dynamic sql or hard-coded forms references. Also, some unnecessary restrictions on data entry were modified or removed. You might use this basic version as a "starter" for your own purposes. Like all of my demos, it can be expanded. Feel free to make any changes needed to suit your situation. However, note that I can't be responsible for any use you make of the application. Reports were improved and simplified. * Compatible with 32 bit & 64 bit Access.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New --May 2, 2020 * Validated for 64 bit version of MS Access --May 4, 2020 When a report opens without data, you can use the On No Data event to cancel the report and issue custom messages or responses. However that cancellation will send error 2501 back to the event which called the "Report Open" event. That means you must also handle that returned error from the calling procedure in the calling form as well. This demo illustrates how to handle it.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- March 18, 2021 A Proof of Concept I created in 2004 for an article in the old Smart Access magazine . The Splash form re-creates a set of command buttons on the main menu form each time the mdb or accdb is opened. Like the Ribbon that was introduced a few years later, the menu items are stored in a table from which the menu is re-built. * Added accdb compatible with 32 bit Access & 64 bit Access. Updated some code.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- February, 2021 Including images in forms and reports in Access requires very little design and programming beyond adding image control(s) and binding the appropriate image to them. This can be done either by making the location of the image file the value in a field in a table, or by calling the images up dynamically. This demo illustrates the latter approach. Although Access does support storing images internally, that causes file bloat. Therefore, storing images externally and linking to them is highly recommended. Therefore, this demo uses a subfolder to store images selected and used for one or more members. Originally designed from a "rescue" project I completed for a friend, I recently dusted it off and cleaned it up for this demo. Download and unZIP the sample files. Make sure the images subfolder is created during that process.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- Jan, 2, 2025 Automatically check spelling of the contents in textboxes on forms. In addition, you have the option of adding a word to your Custom Office Dictionary. The solution is implemented as a Class.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- October 29, 2016 Download the full, working accdb or mdb version of GPC's Work Tracking Demo, with the VBA that makes it work. I originally built this tool for myself, to track time and efforts on projects for my clients. Over time I expanded it to include some rudimentary Project Management features,such as defining the deliverables for a project, scheduling major milestones, and prioritizing tasks. It's a little more than a timesheet and a little less than a project management tool. You may either use Work Tracking as-is or modify it to suit your needs.The current backend DB for my working version in on SQL Azure, but this one still works well as a starter. NOTE: The "accdb" version is tested and works in Access 2007 through Access 2016, both 32 bit and 64 bit version. I recent added code to track and record all changes to data in this version. It creates an audit of data changes by user who made the change and the date and time on which the change was made. Please report any bugs in this newest version, so I can fix them. The change history function is NOT included in the mdb version. Like all of my samples and demos, this one is offered "As Is" with no guarantees of fitness for any particular purpose. Use it or modify at your own risk and with your own effort. This ZIP file contains both mdb (tested in A2003) and accdb (tested in A2007 through A2016 & A2016 64 bit) versions. Only the accdb version contains the Change History Function.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- March, 4, 2019 We avoid saving calculated values in relational database applications when we can. So how do you handle accounting functions with charges and payments on accounts? This demo offers some examples of some Simple Accounting Functions (Charges, Invoices and Payments) in a Tenant Billing Database.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- January 07, 2020 This demo uses a filtering technique involving a combination of the Immediate If Function and tempvars to filter cascading combo boxes and form recordsources. The main advantages of this approach are that it makes the query filter dynamic, but does not require rewriting SQL statements, and that it doesn't require a form to be open to filter on a value set in a form. It requires a combo box with options for each record in a table, plus an option to return ALL records in the form's recordsource. Download and experiment with the demo to see how a combination of Iif() and TempVars makes writing dynamic queries easy and flexible. After receiving feedback, I added two additional forms to illustrate other aspects of cascading combo boxes in continuous forms using the tempvars filter. * Modified -- February 20, 2020 Feedback from AUG presentation provided a simpler way to write WHERE clauses using this method. Thanks to Dale Fye for the idea. vUpdated -- February 23, 2020 UPDATE FOR LARGE RECORDSETS WITH DATE RANGE FILTER: While testing this technique using a larger recordset filtering date ranges instead of primary and foreign keys, I discovered that the Tempvar filtering was extremely slow, with or without the functions created for tempvars, when dates had to be compared in each record. The solution turned out to be very straightforward. By putting the date range filters in a subquery, I was able to retain the advantages of the IIF() and tempvar solution and achieve acceptable performance on date range filters up to several thousand records.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- February 2, 2016 Does a Value already exist in a field in a Table? Find out before trying to add it. This sample Access relational database application uses different validation methods, including the form's Error Event, to make sure values entered into fields are valid and not duplicated before they are committed to the table.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- November, 2020 The request which prompted this demo was to convert the rows in a properly normalized table into one or more columns that can be displayed side-by-side in a report. It turned out to be more involved than I thought, but after a couple of false starts, this is the result. You might find a better way to accomplish the task. If you do, please let me know.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated - April 4, 2024 Create a product menu of clickable images to take orders at a Point of Sale System. Load product images into a grid on a form. Double-clicking an image adds the product to an order for a customer.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- April 4, 2024 You can COMPLETELY hide a table in Access. This demo shows how. Dual tables have these characteristics:                      a) They are hidden, so users are not tempted to use them for other purposes.                      b) They consist of a single column and contain a single record.                      c) They are not editable. Read more in my blog, Grover Park George On Access , on this topic.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- April 04, 2024 * Compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit Access Excel provides a better alternative for some kinds of reporting. One example is the ability to create pivot tables to faciliate analysis of that data. This demo uses an Excel template file with two worksheets. One is a "landing page" into which Access data is exported. The other is the formatted "display page" which links to the landing page to display the data in whatever format is applied to it. This allows variable data to be used with custom Excel formatting. This demo contains randomly generated monthly performance data for the operations department of a health insurance company.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- April, 28, 2024 If you need a unique reference number that is both guaranteed to be sequential within a given year, and reset to 1 at the beginning of each year, this one is for you.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- February 5, 2017 The nominal maximum size of an accdb is 2GB. However, in most relational database applications created with MS Access, the practical maximum size is much less, probably about half that. Unfortunately, one common suggestion offered to deal with "Access Bloat" is to split some of the tables out into multiple Back End accdbs, each containing a few of the tables from the original acdb. While that reduces the size of each individual accdb, it comes at a hefty price: you lose the ability to enforce Referential Integrity between tables in the different accdbs. Within any single accdb, of course, you can still enforce RI physically in that accdb, but not across them. And, as you probably already know, you cannot enforce RI from the Front End accdb when the tables are in a separate accdb. The solution? If a compact & repair doesn't restore the BE to a  manageable size, you will need to consider a more robust Relational Database Management Server (RDBMS) like SQL Server Express or SQL Server Developer Edition or MySQL. The sample accdbs in this download illustrate the single accdb with interface and tables, a properly split accdb with FE and BE files, and a multiple BE split version, in which RI has been lost across the different accdbs.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- Feb 12, 2023 We needed to filter records on a form by one or more criteria simultaneously. I was challenged to make it work and the result is the Multi-Field Filter Form sample accdb. "Any" matching critieria is implemented using the "Or" operator between filter criteria; "All" is implemented using the "And" operator. If All criteria must be matched, "And" is used in the WHERE clause. If Any criteria can be matched, "Or" is used in the WHERE clause. A second form models the method I use to search for a record using a selecting combo box. Although this one is very common and there isn't anything too unique in my approach, one more good example seems worthwhile.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- May 2, 2022 * Compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit Access This is a simple illustration of one method by which a continuous view form can be filtered using a combo box on the forms Header.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- March 21, 2020 * Compatible with 32 bit and 64 bit Access When your relational database application requires many-to-many relationships, data entry becomes more complicated. You shouldn't use multi-table queries as recordsources for data entry tables, although the many-to-many relationship would seem to indicate that. This demo illustrates one way to enter records in all three tables in a many-to-many relationship without having to resort to multi-table queries or complicated VBA logic. Two main form/sub form pairs allow the user to enter either songs or artists or both and slip back and forth easily between them.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- December 20, 2019 Access forms can be opened as: &nbsp -- Read Only &nbsp-- Add New Records Only &nbsp-- Add New Records and Edit Existing Records A single argument on the DoCmd.OpenForm action determines which data mode applies. This simple Access Relational Database Application illustrates two of those options, leaving it to the user to try the third.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

*Updated January, 2020 * Validated for 64 Bit Access January, 2020 When a combo or list box uses a large lookup table, populating that list can be quite slow. Allen Browne created a technique to pre-filter combo boxes to overcome this limitation. I built the original demo around that technique. Recently I expanded it to include a lower code version incorporating Iif() and tempvars. * I also verified that it works properly with 64 bit Access.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New January 7, 2017 Random selection of a random number of values. Randomly select "N" items from each of several categories with a Top "N" subquery. When a table has no primary key, there is no way to order subquery records. A temp table with randomly generated unique keys for each record solved that. Bonus Code: Adding and deleting records in a temp table required creating a temp external accdb on the fly to avoid bloat. This function can be implemented in any Access relational database application.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- November 19, 2019 A question at Utter Access led to this one. The specific request was for a simple way to display a progress message in a scollable text box on a form with the most recently completed step always visible. Another member suggested placing the most recently completed step at the TOP, rather than the BOTTOM, of the text box so that it is always displayed. As is usually the case, I ended up adding a couple of additional features to make the demo more interesting. These can be used "as is" or replaced in your implementation of the scrollable text box into your Relational Database Application. This demo incorporates a precise timer feature based on the GetTickCount() API to measure elapsed times as well as the scrolling message box.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- January 13,2022 A question at Utter Access led to this one. The existing Relational Database Application used a Long Text field to capture notes. Unfortunately, instead of adding a new record for each new note, though, users had to enter a new line, appending the new note to the existing lines. This led to extremely long strings of text, which cluttered up reports with lines that were out of date. The request was a way to capture the most recent 10 lines of notes for the report while leaving the entire string of notes intact in the table. The result was the function demonstrated here. An additional field supports concatenation of two Rich Text fields in an unbound control on a form.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- August 15, 2021 It is possible to simulate the spoken Alternative Text for controls on Access forms despite the fact that it is not natively supported in Access as it is in other Office Applications. This demo illustrates a way to use the Speech API (SAPI) to "read" the control type text or tag of a control. In order to make this work more smoothly, the demo also illustrates a different approach to form design.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* New -- July 5, 2013 One-to-Many Relationships in relational database applications are best handled with a main form/subform design. This demo, based on a travel scenario where groups of people travel together "in a pack", was created for someone at Utter Access . It is a good illustration of the main form/sub form design required to manage one-to-many relationships in a transaction scenario. The transaction itself (the journey, or travel) is tracked in the one-side table, and the details of the transaction (the "pack members" traveling together) are tracked in the many-side table.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* NEW -- December 18, 2019 This demo uses a filtering technique I created using a combination of the Immediate If function and tempvars to filter form recordsources. The main advantages of this approach are that it makes the query filter dynamic, but does not require rewriting SQL statements, and that it doesn't require a form to be open to filter on a value set in a form. It requires a combo box with options for each record in a table, plus an option to return ALL records in the form's recordsource. Download and experiment with the demo to see how a combination of Iif() and TempVars makes writing dynamic queries easy and flexible.

Updated: Mar 23, 2026

* Updated -- February 24, 2023 This Access relational database application database, available in Access 2007 and newer (accdb) formats, is fairly simple. It takes two arguments--a start date and a weekday--and returns the date in the prior or ensuing 7 days on which that weekday falls. Bonus: I added some simple language swapping in it to change captions on controls on the forms from one language to another (English and Español).

Updated: Mar 23, 2026