Microsoft released service pack 1 (SP1) of Office 2010 late June 2011. Information on the update and download instructions are in their Knowledgebase article 2460049. The KB article was last updated yesterday.

Unfortunately, we and some of our customers have encountered problems after installing the update. While we haven't had exhaustive testing with SP1 and tentatively believe everything is okay with the 32 bit version, there are definitely compatibility problems with the 64 bit version of Access 2010. In particular, ACCDE files created in the original release of Access 2010 64 bit no longer run under SP1. This error message appears:

The database cannot be opened because the VBA project contained in it cannot be read. The database can be opened only if the VBA project is first deleted. Deleting the VBA project removes all code from modules, forms and reports. You should back up your database before attempting to open the database and delete the VBA project.

Obviously, with an ACCDE file, unlike an ACCDB file, you can't modify the VBA project. It requires rebuilding the ACCDE from SP1.

So far, we have not experienced problems with our 32-bit ACCDE files between the original and SP1 Access 2010 versions. Some of these issues have been noted in these articles:

• Microsoft Access Development Team Blog: Using 64-bit Access 2010? You may want to wait on SP1
• TechNet report: Access 2010 - Wizards not working after installing SP1

This is a Microsoft KB article discussing the problem which impacts ACCDE, MDE, and ADE files created with Access 2010, 64-bit. For us, when we create MDE and ADE files for use across multiple versions of Access, we've used Access 2003 so that still works fine. The only time we use Access 2010 64-bit version is when we're creating an ACCDE specifically for Access 2010 64-bit users.

This issue impacts two of our products' Access 2010 64 bit versions:

• Total Access Emailer 2010
• Total Access Statistics 2010

We have created new builds of these products and are undergoing internal testing and QA to verify they work with SP1. When ready, we'll release free updates of these products to existing customers. If you need it earlier, please contact our support team. Note that this does not impact the Access 2010 32 bit version.

Regardless of whether you are using our products or not, please be aware of the compatibility issues if you're using the 64-bit version of Access and deploying ACCDE files. You will need to make sure your Access version is in sync with your users' version. Unfortunately, this bug occurs before any of your code can run to provide instructions to your users or offer a graceful exit.

Not sure what version you have installed? Run Access, select the File menu, and click on Help. The version informing is shown on the right side and will show (SP1).

 

Total Access Emailer is the most popular Microsoft Access email program. Running as an add-in, it lets you easily send personalized emails using the information in your database. From using fields in the subject and body of the message, to attaching PDF reports filtered for each recipient, you'll find that Total Access Emailer revolutionizes the way you communicate with your contacts. Any table or query can be the data source for your emails which can be in text or HTML format. We can even automatically include graphics in your HTML emails or let them reference a public site.

We are very pleased to announce Total Access Emailer for Access 2010. Enhancements include support for Access 2010, 32 and 64 bit, compressing all your attached files into one zip file with optional password, international extended character support, a new Code Generator, additional programmatic interfaces, and many more new features. An X.6 upgrade version for Access 2007 and earlier versions also available. Download the Free Trial.

If you've ever wondered how Total Access Emailer could work for you, now is your chance to download a fully-functional version which includes the add-in and the VBA runtime library.

Total Access Emailer is the most popular Microsoft Access email program. Running as an add-in, it lets you easily send personalized emails using the information in your database. From using fields in the subject and body of the message, to attaching PDF reports filtered for each recipient, you'll find that Total Access Emailer revolutionizes the way you communicate with your contacts. Any table or query can be the data source for your emails which can be in text or HTML format. We can even automatically include graphics in your HTML emails or let them reference a public site.

We are very pleased to offer a Free Preview of Total Access Emailer for Access 2010. Enhancements include support for Access 2010, 32 and 64 bit, compressing all your attached files into one zip file with optional password, international extended character support, a new Code Generator, additional programmatic interfaces, and many more new features.

 

FMS President Luke Chung will be attending and speaking at the three day Microsoft Access conference sponsored by the Portland Oregon Access User Group.  Join him and other guest speakers including Alison Balter from InfoTech Services Group Inc., Armen Stein from J Street Technology, and Kevin Bell from Microsoft.

Luke will be speaking on the following topics:

• FMS Products for Microsoft Access Developers and How they Make You Money
• Microsoft Access and Azure: Working in the Cloud
• Microsoft Access Disaster Recovery Plans

For complete details visit PAUG 2011 Database Designer Conference and see you there May 14-16

We have a long history of leveraging existing data to improve decision making and communications.

Many of you are already familiar with how our Total Access Emailer program automates the sending of personalized emails with recipient specific data and reports. This amazing product lets you leverage the power of your data to significantly improve how you communicate with your contacts.

With our experience creating Total Access Emailer, our Professional Solutions Group has helped many organizations incorporate the product and implement advanced, custom features.

We've also taken this technology to the next level by creating web sites to host files rather than emailing them to your contacts. If you're interested in learning more about how we can extend your Windows desktop files to the web, please let us know. We can make it easy for your contacts to privately log in and see their files.

Can we help you with a project? Contact us for a Risk Free Assessment

Many organizations use Microsoft Access to manage a list of email contacts. In conjunction with Total Access Emailer from FMS, it’s easy to send everyone a personalized email (such as a newsletter, order notification, or even a recipient’s individual invoice or sales receipt) in a convenient and automated way. Handling undeliverable emails and unsubscribe requests, however, can be tricky.

Read our new tip to find out how...

Discover how Total Access Emailer can support a table driven system to continuously send emails from your Microsoft Access application. With an instance of Microsoft Access running Total Access Emailer's programmatic interface, you can automatically send emails from a table. Create a custom email in your application and simply add it as new record to a table. The email is automatically sent without interrupting your application. Read the article for more information on how easy this is to implement.

As part of our commitment to quality software, FMS regularly releases product update patches to add new enhancements and resolve known issues. Most recently, we have released updates for Total Access Emailer, Total Access Analyzer 2007, and Total Visual CodeTools. Updates have been sent to all registered owners—contact us if you did not receive your update.

You can check for updates in most FMS products by using the built-in Update Wizard. From the Windows Start menu, select All Programs, FMS, Program Name, Update Wizard. Follow the wizard prompts to check for updates.

Integrating emails into Microsoft Access applications is an amazingly powerful way to distribute your data. The built-in SendObject command lets you do this at a very basic level. Here's a review of the SendObject command's features and limitations, and how Total Access Emailer can help you extend Access beyond SendObject to really email personalized messages with Microsoft Access data and reports to all your contacts.

Our friend Alison Balter is a popular speaker, author, and trainer in the Microsoft Access community. She's been a user and fan of our products for many years. In her Mastering Office Access 2003 book, she wrote a whole chapter on ThirdParty Tools That Can Help You Get Your Job Done Effectively, where she covered many of our Access related products:

Total Access Analyzer

Total Access Admin

Total Access Components

Total Access Detective

Total Access Emailer

Total Access Memo

Total Access Speller

Total Access Startup

Total Access Statistics

Total Visual Agent

Total Visual CodeTools

Total Visual SourceBook

You can now read that chapter and preview the book online. 

One of the most powerful ways to increase productivity is automating the distribution of personalized data to your contacts. Whether they are customers, prospects, or internal people, simplifying communications is a wonderful result of all your efforts collecting and analyzing data. With our Total Access Emailer program, we are helping thousands of people leverage the power of emails and their Microsoft Access data.  Easily send HTML emails with references to your data fields to personalize each message.  You can even add filtered data from a table or query, or email Microsoft Access reports either as attachments or as your HTML email.  Total Access Emailer makes it easy to do on a one time basis or continuously. It runs as an Access add-in with a Wizard interface, and also has a programmatic interface with runtime library to launch emails from VBA code.

Recently, we've helped several organizations create Access applications where email was a critical part of the solution. For Harvard College, we developed a system to manage the assignment of interviewers and candidates. An Access database on SQL Server is used by an administrator to match the two parties, then an email sent out to the interviewer. The Interviewer then visits an ASP.NET web site to record whether they accepted or declined the assignment, and upload their results. Reminders are automatically sent if no response is received by a certain time. It's running hot and heavy now as interviewing season comes to a close for this year's applicants. 

Similarly, we created a solution for a national firm in the customer loyalty business to improve their partners' communications with the customers they've signed up. The main application is a web based ASP.NET and SQL Server solution, but we decided to build the communications part in Access. This separated it from the transactional load on the web site and simplified its development. The marketing people could design their emails in HTML and use Total Access Emailer to replace the fields in the message with the data downloaded from SQL Server. After tweaking their message, previewing sample emails, and getting it perfect, they could launch the blast on their own. The result was a personalized email to each participant with a custom letterhead with graphics for each affinity partner as if the message came directly from them. We've created monthly statements, a campaign for Toys for Tots, and other notifications to drive build a closer relationship between the partners and their customers.

So if you want to send emails from database, learn more about Total Access Emailer.  A free 30 day trial version to send emails from Access is available. If you'd like us to help you create a custom solution in Access or .NET with email, please contact our Professional Solutions Group.