Bugs and Features – May 2025
- Karl Donaubauer
- 22 hours ago
- 4 min read
In this article, we inform you about (mostly minor) bugs, changes and new features for Access in recent weeks.
1. Bug: F1 in the Monaco editor can crash Access
In a comment on the Access Team blog post about the Monaco SQL Editor, it was reported that pressing F1 either opens a browser window or crashes Access. The AFo team found out through further testing:
When the cursor is in a keyword, first the Command Palette of the Monaco Editor (to which F1 is also assigned) opens briefly and then a browser window with the Microsoft support page for the keyword. However, if the cursor is not in a keyword, the Command Palette again opens briefly and then Access crashes. It could be an effect of a recent change in F1's behaviour, which was mentioned in this blog article.
Maria Barnes has reported the issue to Microsoft's Access team, who are investigating it.
2. Bug: SQL Server login fails in preview channel
The Current Channel Preview build 18827.20060 from 13 May has the problem that the login to SQL Server does not work but only brings a message that Javascript must be enabled in the browser.
Access team member Shane Groff informed in this Answers thread that the problem has been fixed in the next preview build 18827.20092 and does not appear in any Current Channel version. On this occasion, he pointed out that beta/preview channels should not be used for production purposes. We have preached this over and over again in countless discussions and, of course, in our article on channels. Yet many people still do it. That's the reason why we are even mentioning this already fixed preview-only problem here.
3. Problem: Windows 11 24H2 has changed Sep to Sept in some regions
The Windows 11 update 24H2 has changed the month abbreviation (mmm) for September in the regional versions of New Zealand (en-nz) and Ireland (en-ie) from "Sep" to "Sept". With this change, Microsoft is following modified Unicode standards, but to our knowledge has not provided any information about this anywhere.
The change may cause problems if applications are dependent on the abbreviation when passing or displaying data. Such dependencies should generally be avoided anyway. In this Answers thread a poster reported that passing either "Sep" or "Sept" from Access to the ODBC driver for SQL Server no longer works with his NZ settings.
There are other discussions (e.g. on Answers and Stack Overflow) about the changes and consequent problems in other programs and the expectation that this will be extended to other months such as June and July and other language regions such as Australia and possibly the UK.
4. Fix: Restart message after option change
Everyone knows this: You change an Access option, such as the application title or the cursor behavior when entering a field, and receive a message that the database needs to be restarted:
However, this is only true for a few options (e.g. a new display form), not for the options mentioned and many others where the option change is immediately effective in the open database. This bug has been around for decades and has led to millions of unnecessary clicks and restarted databases.
Colin Riddington asked the Microsoft Access team about it on May 14. The cause of the problem was found by the engineers and a fix was promptly released with the next build 18919.20004 on May 22 in the Beta channel. We will soon see it in the current versions of Access. No further millions of wasted seconds, ;-) and another example of a quick action by the Access team.
5. Feature: New ribbon icon to open a query in SQL view
In 2023, Colin convinced the Access team with the umpteenth request to open a query directly in SQL view to add this feature to Access after decades.
Still missing was a corresponding button in the Create ribbon to create a new query directly in SQL view. Colin has repeatedly nagged the Access team about this and this spring even started a small MVP campaign to push for it. This was successful: The new button is included in the current beta build 18919.20004 from May 22. Details can be found in Colin's article.
6. Feature: Command line code signing
The very first feature article we published here on AFo was Access Code Signing is back in January 2023. In their presentation at Access DevCon in April this year, the Access team showed that code signing will also be possible with the new /Sign command line switch.
The new switch was introduced at the end of April in the Beta channel version 2505 build 18817.20000 and should soon reach the productive channels.
Until now, we have mainly documented major bugs and features on AFo. In addition, we plan to publish such summaries of "minor" news from time to time if they are of interest to many readers. We look forward to your feedback in the comments.