Addressing the Common Criticisms about Microsoft Access

Hi. This is Richard Rost from Access Learning Zone. As you probably know, I'm a strong proponent, supporter, and evangelist for Microsoft Access. I think it's one of the best, if not the best, overall database solution for businesses of all sizes. By itself it can manage the data needs of most small to mid-sized businesses. Couple it with SQL Server, and you have a strong, secure database solution that can handle pretty much anything.

Since I posted my first video, I've received several emails from people saying that Access has this problem or that problem. Sure, Access does have some weak points. So in this video, I'm going to address some of the common criticisms that people have about Access.

In addition, while doing my research for this video (and the first one), I found several web sites put up by people claiming to be database consultants. It was very easy for me to tell that they didn't have much knowledge of Access and what its capabilities are, or they are consultants trying to sell some super-expensive "enterprise-level" database solution as an alternative to Access. I'm not surprised.

So whether you're a fan of Access and just arguing with your friends, or you're trying to convince the boss that Access really is good database, or you're having to deal with the IT guy who absolutely refuses to let you install Access on your PC, or you've got the expensive so-called "consultant" giving you false information to push a high-priced solution, this video is for you.

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Please feel free to post your questions or comments below. Thanks.

[jdp]

Been a long time Access user and I must say I have written several databases and absolutely love it. I had a small business for 22 years and wrote applications for that business and now an investor and have built databases for home use that is just as good as any commercial programs I would have to buy.

[simonmaersk]

When it comes to distributing your Access Application, I HIGHLY recommend SSE Setup (I'm in no way affiliated, I just use it). It is 100% free, and lets you package up your ACCDE file, along with any other resources your app might need. SSE Setup has options specifically for Access distribution. For example, SSE Setup will automatically create the setup folder as a safe folder for Access, which will block any Access security warnings. Also, it will check if the computer it is being installed on has Access. If not, it will automatically install the Access Runtime along with your application. This way, you can easily bundle up your application as one simple solution for the end user. That's how I distribute the applications at work, and the employees can't even see that it's Access.

[joseancheta]

Been using Access at our organization for over 10 years. It’s awesome. As our internal processes changed, our database was able to QUICKLY change along with it. But alas, we’re at 1.8GB and it’s time to move on. Our IT department have their own Oracle Express app that they use for creating and maintaining applications. Your videos have been super helpful in my journey. Thank you so much!

[eugeneso]

Dear Mr. Rost: I am a computer geek myself. I still remember as a Freshman opening Microsoft Access on my old Windows 95 computer and wondering what it was used for. After learning what it was used for, I then wondered whether I would ever get to use it in my career. Today, I am an utility engineer. We have been having some severe problems in our main equipment database. I am using Microsoft Access right now to build a reimagined version of that database with redesigned tables to prevent errors (you wouldn't believe how many typos the data entry people make) and to address some shortcomings in our present database. I am hoping that we could export my design to our new Salesforce database in the future.

[SpeakingGiraffe]

I’ve built several databases in Access and learned very quickly that I can do ANYTHING with it! The largest one I built is MASSIVE. It has several hundred objects and over 110k lines of VBA code. I built a robust user interface with precise user permissions that could limit users to unique forms and reports. It had complex functionalities like calculating densities of liquid products. It held processing parameters for products for multiple facilities and multiple lines of equipment. So much more functionality than I can cover here! I’m currently building an Access app that links to SharePoint lists. This design is for users to scan info into the Access front end with the list being co-authored. I find there’s nothing I can’t do with Access.

[premshah]

100%
The main thing is system design. How you design the structure is important. But for it you must have a lot of experience and extra techniques to know things and how to implement it.

[michaelmoore]

Richard, I absolutely love what you do. I've been a hardcore Access/VBA programmer for over 20 years. Over that time, I've inherited a lot of Access applications written by other people and learned quite a bit in the process. I've found that a lot of criticism comes from the existing applications being poorly written. The people who criticize it blame Access in general, rather than the application written with it.

Prejudice against Access is rampant. One co-worker of mine even referred to it as a toy! I was so offended that I just turned around and walked away from him during the conversation.

Thanks again.

[cmohanc]

Can u tell me how do you manage without pivot tables in Recent versions? I keep using 2010 only for pivot table.

[AllanNeros]

Hello, Richard. Nice video!
I suggest to add "VBA Security yellow bar" as an item. Depending on where you install your database, Access will suppress any macro and VBA functions and will show an yellow bar asking for user confirmation (kind of security flaw).
We can avoid these messages using a 3rd party tool like AddPath.

[tonidaddio]

Hey Richard, love the videos I am a power user but not a programmer but love VBA and learning it. I was previously learning from another Access programmer on Youtube but felt they seemed to struggle in some areas (looking stuff up live on stack overflow when code or Access wouldn't work as intended). I noted you were an MVP instantly boosting my confidence and started watching your to now I self taught over years stopping and then trying again and each time understanding a little more... mostly to get Access to do what I wanted to get data manipulated but am sure my current DB is littered with normalization problems and is certainly not professionally coded but I am not looking to build a DB for anyone as a developer, but I am a Real Estate broker and although there are many many CRMS they are all more than I need and I have found I can get Access to track sales, deals and closings etc with a custom approach as more of a personal DB so I dont need to worry about end users, but its important to me that I do things as closely to professional as I can. I am looking forward to learning to program Access VBA better as well as set it up more reliably and professionally as well as to learn to use queries the right way with you and will be joining. To start off with though, silly as it may be, what is the industry way to pronounce SQL - is it EssQue Ell as written or Sequal as I have heard it pronounced from the other youtuber or does it really not matter? all the best, many thanks, looking forward >>>

[rodhorning]

Referential Integrity is my big criticism. Access should support this between data bases. My opinion of course but this is a major deficiency. You even loose referential Integrity when you split your data base (splitting is a great feature but losing Referential Integrity is not desirable).

Thank you for your tremendous work of creating these videos.
Rod Horning

[KentReynolds]

The biggest criticisms are that the database can get corrupted simply when you make design changes and come back in repair usually does not take steve but I find fixing them the best is to create a new database and import the tables queries and forms from the corrupted database and that does seem to do the trick most of the time, but I have to do this quite often

[techguydilan]

Some folks criticism of Access is because of their hesitancy to use anything other than Excel or sometimes Word. One lady that used to help with one of the things I help do, is a theme basket auction for our county's SPCA, would use Excel for managing the backend of things. Which Excel is great for flat spreadsheets, but it struggles when building truly relational data models. So they would manually build the calling sheets from multiple spreadsheets on multiple computers after drawing tickets for each item. This took a lot of time, 2-3 hours in some cases, and many times they made mistakes and would have to rescind the original sheets and print new ones because everything would be a line off or they typoed ticket numbers which confused their VLookup formulas. It was messy and at the time I just learned about MS Access in college and was able to throw together a basic relational database in Access and got automatic lookups to work with less effort than doing Excel formulas, and with barely any effort I was able to create reports which would group the winners by first letter of last name practically instantly after entering winning numbers.

She got upset and refused to work with me, stating that her Excel-based solution was better. That year was the worst year we had with her system, so many mistakes were made and the committee lost the trust of many community members to the point that the local papers really flamed the fundraising committee. The same woman decided that she didn't want anything to do with the fundraiser, could be that or for other reasons, which kind of sucked because with me being a broke college student I couldn't afford the extra equipment I have now, and if she had worked with me (as she worked at a school which was polite enough to let her "borrow" a couple of extra computers and a printer for the event and she had a few colleagues willing to help). Because of all that the remaining members decided to run the event entirely on paper. The results were even more disastrous.

Then the following year they finally let me run the backend with the Access DB I created. While working with a single file on a single laptop, and an old Epson inkjet printer, I had the calling sheets out within an hour of drawing. And because it's automated, human-error in entry doesn't create system-wide errors in the reports. Occasionally we'll have one or two drawing items which need to be corrected. But it's much less of a headache than having the entire report be off because someone accidentally pasted from a line down. I ran into hiccups the following years when the event grew and I tried multiple users working in a single file, which caused me to migrate to a MySQL/MariaDB backend, but the font-end is very much MS Access still.

At the end of the day, it's best to use the proper tool of the job and not use your tool like it's a religion. MS Access is the proper tool for the job when one has to build front-ends for relational databases with minimal effort and programming. No other tool comes close in this specific niche that I've seen, but I could be wrong.

[michael]

I have problem with launching wizard text box. I made sure wizard is active but it does not launch. I've been to Microsoft website and I see many people having the same problem with no viable solution. Do you have a solution.

[jimstockman]

I've been a database programmer since the days of dBase in the early 80's. I moved over to FoxPro when it came out and have followed the path from there to the current version of Access. I love programming in Access, and have only one issue with it. The font sizing in the Property Sheet window is too small. If you have an idea on how to make the font sizing bigger without upping my display scaling or having to use the windows built-in magnifier, I'm all ears.

[leomaredcampos]

Do you have remedy on MS access 2GB maximum storage?

[cruzinsweetsntreats]

With Office 365, you just have to subscribe under a Business plan to get it. As it's not available under the Personal plans. $8.95 per user for "apps only", is what I signed up for.

I also just started video recording my progress on a jewelry database. When I go to share the Customer forms, most info will be masked by VBA coding, to protect the old innocent (2000-2005). Getting started is a big plug for you and your teachings.

[kennethjeffuy]

Hi Richard. I share the same sentiments. However, the hard truth is - when you hire an "IT Professional" to design an RDBMS, they're not gonna use Access. Why? Is that because they're bound to charge lesser because Access is simpler and faster to setup? Or because it's easy for their clients to replicate the database design and sell to other potential clients? Because unlike other software Access doesn't require licensing? I suggest you consider that as a topic for a video. That would be interesting especially for us DIYers. I've learned a lot from you. Keep up the good work!.

[donharrold]

Usually when people write articles knocking Microsoft products they often make mistakes about software capability. I've read all sort of nonsense about MS Project and Excel.

[FDominicus]

Now I'm sure it won't get read anyway. Here are my problems with MS Access (and I'm using it for well over 15 years)
1) The IDE could be much better (see. e.g WinDev)
2) It's a pain in the rear with revisions, source code control
3) Testing support is totally missing
4) OO is extremely poor
5) Interfaces see 4


That are the really bummers and well that can be done much better. All the criticism here is more about ignoring the limits and how it is built: