Mendip Data Systems
Database applications for businesses and schools
Useful Links
Access Help Sites
Access Forums
The largest by far of the 3 main Access forums in terms of membership and daily traffic. Very active and with a wide range of sample databases and code samples
Another very active forum with a wide membership and a very useful archive of samples and examples
A smaller forum but also with many active members
Microsoft's official forum for developers. Covers all Office programs. slightly harder to use but many highly knowledgeable members actively involved
Another site covering a wide range of applications as well as Access
Excellent resource for information for a wide range of programming languages. Regards itself as a knowldege base rather than a discussion forum
Access User Voice
Official Microsoft site for user feedback and suggestions. Whether MS actually do anything about the feedback is of course another matter!
The Git Hub website is a vast resource of open source code. Now owned by Microsoft but they have promised to allow the site to remain fully independent
Run by Daniel Pineault (CARDA Consultants) - extensive range of Access articles and code samples
Excellent site with articles, sample code and example databases by UA moderator, The DBGuy (Leo)
Allen Browne's tips for Microsoft Access
Allen Browne's site has a wide range of tips for Access users of all abilities. Unfortunately Allen is no longer active in this area but the site remains essential for all
This webiste by Chip Pearson is aimed mainly for Excel users but much of the information applies to Access. Unfortunately Chip died in April 2018
Stephen Lebans retired in 2009 but his site remains available with many very clever utilities, mostly graphics related.
Another superb site for Access developers started by Dev Ashish and now run by Arvin Meyer. No longer updated but an excellent resource
Another excellent site run by Jeff Conrad (MVP) with many Access articles and code samples.
UPDATE Dec 2019 - Unfortunately the site is no longer maintained but remains available for now
Another very extensive site specialising in tips and code for Excel. Run by Ron Bruin
Run by Gina Whipp (MVP), this has a wide range of example code, tips and sample databases
This site contains many articles written by Helen Feddema for the Access Archon newsletter. No longer active?
Commercial site by Access MVP, Luke Chung with many excellent Access utilities. Also with many detailed articles and free code samples
More examples and samples by Access MVP, Doug Steele
Huge online learning resource covering HTTP, VBA, SQL, Java and much more
Another outstanding site run by Phillip Stiefel. The site (in both German and English) has many very detailed Access articles and code samples
Windows API Reference: Functions
Access tips and code samples by Anders Ebro
Online reference resource by Jason M with information about the little documented hidden Wizhook function
Examples and tutorial for ribbon creation by Gunter Avenius (in both German and Engish). Ribbon creator utility available for purchase
Older site run by Michael Kaplan with useful information on replication, JET, ACE/DAO etc
Official site for several Access MVPs. Many examples and code samples
Free samples, tools, short and full length tutorials and code. Site created by Bob Larson & now run by Juan Soto (both MVPs)
Another very good site run by Crystal Long (MVP). Despite its name not just basic information. Includes an excellent Analyser tool
A long established site run by APR Pillai containing a huge number of tips and tricks for Access users of all skill levels
Industry Data Models - wide range of schemas for database table design
Useful reference when you need to use the ACSII number codes for keyboard input
Microsoft official site containing documentation for all the objects, properties, methods, and events contained in the Access object model.
Detailed articles listing (almost) all Microsoft Access functions together with how/where each can be used
Thoughts, opinions, samples, tips, and tricks about Microsoft Access by Access MVP Roger Carlson
Mainly for VB6 but much of the content can easily be adapted for VBA
It covers many different techniques and topics including object oriented programming, optimization of programs and coding guidelines.
Huge reference library of code samples for VB, SQL PHP, Java, HTML and much more
Very wide ranging blog of 'technical ramblings' by AWF member Mark Brooks (lightwave) covering topics including Access, SQL Server, Azure and more
Connection Strings
Outstanding reference about all types of connection strings. Essential info for all developers
Site in both Dutch and English with useful tips & code for Excel, Access and other Office applications including a very useful non-ActiveX Treeview control
Very useful site for testing & debugging regular expressions
Extends Class Online Tools for Developers
This site run by Cyril Bois contains a wide range of very useful online tools for developers. All are completely free to use
Very useful site for online conversions. Wide range of other conversion facilities available including CSV to JSON, CSV to HTML etc
JSONLint is a validator and reformatter for JSON files. Use it to tidy and validate your JSON code.
Another very useful site for managing JSON files
Official Microsoft site wth help articles for Access - mainly for beginners but some useful info for intermediate / advanced users as well
Download site for all Access templates created by Microsoft to demonstrate Access features. NOTE: The quality of these templates varies significantly
Very useful site by Christos Samaras with many tips and hints for Office products and other topics (in English and Greek)
The Wayback Machine is an initiative of the non-profit Internet Archive & contains a vast digital library of Internet sites and digital artefacts collected over a period of time. If a website in no longer available with a 404 Page not found error, you may well find it here.
Access Video Tutorials
Complete course of over 100 Access online tutorials by Steve Bishop for all levels of ability from absolute beginners through intermediate to advanced users
Another comprehensive set of videos by Access MVP Crystal Long
Yet another wide ranging set of videos by Philipp Stiefel
AWF moderator, Tony Hine, has created many free Access tutorial videos aimed mainly at beginners and intermediate users of Access
Official Microsoft Access video training site - aimed mainly at beginners
Several older Access videos demonstrating various Access techniques. NOTE: The site has been unavailable since at least Nov 2018
Here is a link to a web archive hosted by the WaybackMachine site dated Aug 2018
This is intended as a resource for Access developers to find useful information from other online sites. It will be further expanded in the coming months.
Please contact us by email if you have any suggestions for other useful sites not listed here.
Also please email us if you find any broken links. Thank you.
Last updated - 16 November 2019