Benefits of using Microsoft Access 2024 (Standard or via 365)

Access 2024 is very similar to its predecessors and if you are using 365 then the new features may arrive piecemeal as updates roll out. Here are the new features listed by Microsoft, ordered according to our experience of potential usefulness. Whilst the last one is potentially the most useful, we suspect it will apply only to large organisations and we don't yet have experience of anyone using it. The others are very minor changes, and geared towards developers rather than users.

1. Open queries in SQL View from the Navigation Pane

There's a new option to the right-click menu for query objects displayed in the Navigation Pane. You can now select SQL View here to go directly into SQL View for your selected query. No need for the extra step to first open the query in Datasheet View or Design View. And, frankly, it was a glaring omission that the option hasn't always been there.

2. Don't show the warning for opening linked tables in Design View

There is now an option in the warning message that appears when you try to open a linked table in Design View. You can now select Don't show this message again if you don't want Access to prompt you with this message every time you try to open a linked table in Design View.

You can turn the message confirmations back on by selecting the Linked/ReadOnly tables option in the Confirm section of File > Options > Client Settings.

3. Open more tables and connections

The maximum number of open tables was increased from 2,048 to 4,096. They have also increased the maximum number of available connections from 256 to 512. This is potentially very useful for large and complex Access database systems where users occasionally receive an error about "Cannot open any more databases".

4. Maximum database size increased to 4GB for more situations

If you are running 32-bit Access on 64-bit Windows your maximum database size has increased from 2GB to 4GB. This will be a small subset of users and is only useful if you have a large data file. However, it will be useful in some instances.

5. Access Dataverse Connector with Power Platform

This looks to be a whole new way of using Access with data held in the cloud. For those who have a licence for the Microsoft Power Platform, it could be very, very useful, though there are some complications to overcome.

Access 2024 can also be updated automatically to newer versions if acquired as part of a Microsoft 365 (what was Office 365) subscription package.

(If you are considering Microsoft 365/Office 365 or would like to know more, click here.)

And just like in previous Access versions, you can normally create a database in Access 2024 and then give it to someone who doesn't own Access to use. All they need is the free Access 365 Runtime installed on their computer.

• Benefits of using Microsoft Access
• What's new in Microsoft Access 2019
• What's new in Microsoft Access 2016
• What's new in Microsoft Access 2013
• What's new in Microsoft Access 2010
• What's new in Microsoft Access 2007

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