While it's fairly easy to find links to the Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, Microsoft Developers Network, Access MVP's and a number of other Access experts' Web sites, there are some Web sites that should be on your list -- but probably aren't. Feel free to bookmark any of the following Web sites listed on this page that contain copious amounts of free resources.
Sections listing links to free resources:
Microsoft's online documentation Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, Microsoft Developers Network, TechNet and Microsoft's Access Developers articles
Microsoft Access MVP's (Most Valuable Professionals) who have posted valuable information and resources on Web sites. (What's an MVP?)
Michael Kaplan - "MichKa" (Former Access MVP): advice, tips, downloads and source code. Specializes in replication, internationalization and localization. http://www.trigeminal.com
Stephen Lebans (Access MVP): hints, tips, downloads and source code. Specializes in VBA and API functions to stretch Access to its limits. http://www.lebans.com
Dev Ashish (Access MVP): tips, downloads and source code. Specializes in VBA and API functions to stretch Access to its limits. http://www.mvps.org/access
Tony Toews (Access MVP): advice and downloads. Specializes in Access database corruption issues and database performance. http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Jeff Conrad (Access MVP and The Access Junkie): tips, demos, and comprehensive list of useful Access database links (tips, tutorials, samples, downloads, and links to other resources). Specializes in Wizard Add-in tools and games. http://home.bendbroadband.com/conradsystems/accessjunkie.html
Free VBA and VB source code and Access examples:
Fabalou Web - Microsoft Access Help and Microsoft Access Examples (and other MS Office help) (In case you're wondering, Fabalou is a very special cat.) http://www.fabalou.com
AllAPI.net - Huge library of source code, examples, and tutorials for programming the Windows API with Visual Basic 5 and 6. Also includes quite a few VB .Net examples. http://www.allapi.net
Mentalis.org - some very handy classes and class libraries in C# and VB.NET for the .NET framework. They have several complete projects, including source code, that you may download. http://www.mentalis.org
Terry Wickenden: Comprehensive list of the Microsoft Access RunCommand constants, sample usage (i.e., documentation that Microsoft didn't provide). http://home.clara.net/tkwickenden
Use the JetComp utility to recover a corrupted Access database file or just to compact a database located on a computer that does not have Microsoft Access installed http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=295334
You'll find the answers to your next questions in the public News Groups. Before you post a question, however, you'll need to either configure your news reader with your return E-mail address, or register for a service (like Google Groups), where your return E-mail address is usually required. Unfortunately, this E-mail address is often posted along with your question in the news group. While this is intended to ensure that others may contact you regarding your question or to ensure that the system isn't abused -- abuses can be traced to the E-mail provider, and supposedly, the offender -- spammers have sent robot agents to harvest E-mail addresses from these message boards. The result is that you'll eventually start getting spam E-mail. Lots of it.
The solution is to use a fake E-mail address or a disposable E-mail address. If you use a fake E-mail address, then people who would like to contact you about your question can't send you any messages. If you use a disposable E-mail address, then people can contact you with the helpful information that you were looking for. When you start getting spam at this E-mail address, you merely dispose of this E-mail address and create another -- if you so choose. Your regular E-mail address remains private, so spam messages won't be able to haunt you for long!
Need Microsoft Access to run an existing Access database application? With the Access Runtime version, you won't be able to design or add any new objects, but you'll be able to use existing objects in the database file, such as forms and reports. If you already have any version of Access installed on your computer, don't install the Access Runtime unless you know how to avoid the problems with multiple versions co-existing on the same computer.
After installing the Access Runtime, be sure to install the service packs for your version of Access and the relevant Access Runtime patches available from Microsoft's downloads Web site.
Remember that one cannot distribute the Access Runtime version unless one has the unlimited redistribution license that comes with the Access Developer Extensions for Access 2003 and the Microsoft Office Developer's Edition for earlier versions of Access, so don't make copies of these downloads and then redistribute them throughout your organization. If you need to distribute the royalty-free Access Runtime version within your organization, then your organization must purchase the Access Developer Extensions for Access 2007, the current version of Access. The Access Developer Extensions are not a standalone product, but are included in most versions of Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System (for Microsoft Office 2003) and Visual Studio 2005 Tools for the Microsoft Office System.
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Lists of tips, tutorials, and other Access and database resources
CBel.com's list of Access resources, including tips, tutorials, Add-ins, downloads, and support:
