Hi Everyone,

It's been quite an end-of-summer here in the Washington DC area. We had a 5.8 earthquake, the largest I've ever experienced, which rocked our offices on the 11th floor for almost a minute. Fortunately, no one was hurt though a few things fell of the walls.

That was followed a week later by Hurricane Irene that passed just offshore after giving us a scare. The following week, we were hit by the remnants of tropical storm Lee which dumped almost a foot of rain in two days and caused some flash flooding in the area, though we were fine.

We were then warned about threats around the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Nothing bad happened but it brought back memories of that day 10 years ago when I watched the distant smoke rising from the Pentagon from my FMS office window. Crazy times.

In spite of all the weather and political turmoil in town, I was pleased to be invited as one of 18 small business owners for the Senate Finance Committee's Small Business Roundtable on tax policy. It was an honor to be asked and meet the Senate staffers who were sincerely interested in doing what they could do to help small businesses. Read more about in it my blog.

Meanwhile, we're happy to announce the release of Total Access Startup for Microsoft Access 2010. We hope you'll learn more how it helps you manage and deploy Access applications and download the free trial. We also wanted to share our work helping organizations improve their collaboration by leveraging Exchange and Outlook and treating them like a database. Finally, we have a variety of new tips to help you use Access, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word better.

All the best,

Luke Chung
President

Contents

• Total Access Startup for Access 2010 is Now Shipping!
• Extend Your Microsoft Access Applications Over the Internet with RemoteApp and Total Access Startup
• Small Business Roundtable for the Senate Finance Committee
• Email Collaboration from a Database Perspective
• Microsoft Access Append Query Examples and SQL Syntax
• Sparklines-Show Data Tends with Tiny Charts in Excel
• Quickly Insert Screenshots in Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint
• Recover Unsaved Documents or Return to an Earlier Version in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2010
• Broadcast Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Shows to Remote Viewers

Total Access Startup for Access 2010 is Now Shipping!

Total Access Startup 2010 (Version 14.0) lets you centrally manage and guarantee that all your users always launch the right version of Microsoft Access with the right version of your Access database (MDB, ACCDB, or ADP). Simply distribute a shortcut to your users to start your application. When you post an updated database, your users automatically get it installed on their machine the next time they launch your program. They don't need to know the name of the database. You manage all of that in one place and can change it at any time. A runtime version lets you control the Access version launched for users not on your network.

Total Access Startup 2010 supports both 32 and 64 bit versions of Microsoft Access 2010 letting you control which version your application requires. It also supports all legacy versions of Access. Learn more about the new features and try out the free trial version.

Extend Your Microsoft Access Applications Over the Internet with RemoteApp and Total Access Startup

Our paper on Using Terminal Services and RemoteApp to Extend Your Microsoft Access and other Windows Applications Over the Internet is updated. There's more information on implementing this plus how Total Access Startup can manage this through user profiles to let every user have a unique experience.

Our Professional Solutions Group has helped organizations run Microsoft Access application over the web and can even help you use host RemoteApp instances for your users. Contact our consulting team for more information.

Small Business Roundtable for the Senate Finance Committee

On September 15th, FMS President Luke Chung was invited by the Senate Finance Committee to share his experiences as a small business owner. As one of 18 participants, Luke was asked about his experience running FMS and how tax policy can hurt and help small businesses thrive and create jobs. In a very bipartisan environment, the staffers of co-chairmen Senator Max Baucus (D-Montana) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) listened to the participants who provided a perspective quite different from the deep pocketed lobbyists they normally experience on Capitol Hill.

Read more about it in Luke's blog: Participating on the Senate Finance Committee’s Small Business Roundtable

Email Collaboration from a Database Perspective

One of the challenges most organizations face is how to coordinate communications and tasks among team members and external contacts. With multiple people and clients/projects, emails fly in many directions. People with vital information may be unreachable while customers may be providing information to someone in your organization while others who need that information are oblivious. When someone leaves a team or organization, much of their information is lost.

Over the years, we've helped several clients better manage their emails and treat them like a database. We've built solutions that work with Exchange and Outlook to automatically classify contacts, tag emails, and store the information in a SQL Server database. The data is presented through an Outlook add-in showing all communications with a contact's firm when you create or respond to an email. The data can also be displayed in the Facebook like interface to make it easy for everyone on your team to know what's going on.

There's no longer a need to look in someone else's Inbox since information is immediately shared between everyone who needs to know (even before the recipient opens their message). Searching for messages is quick and easy, and corporate document retention policies can be enforced.

To learn more about this and other innovative activities of our Professional Solutions Group, please contact our consulting team.

Microsoft Access Append Query Examples and SQL Syntax

We've enhanced our Microsoft Access Query Help Center with a new paper describing Microsoft Access Append (Insert) Queries, and how to use them to add multiple records or a single record to a table.

We also discuss why rather than using a Make Table query, it's preferable to use an existing table, empty it, then fill it with an Append query.

Sparklines-Show Data Trends with Tiny Charts in Excel 2010

A new feature in Excel 2010 lets you insert tiny charts, or Sparklines, into worksheet cells. Sparklines are a powerful way to show a quick snapshot of data trends. After you insert the Sparkline, a new tab appears on the Ribbon. The Sparkline Tools tab allows you to select from a variety of formatting options, including the chart type, colors and styles, etc.

Quickly Insert Screenshots in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Excel 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 has a new feature that makes it easier than ever to insert screenshots into your documents. The Screenshot feature is available in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook 2010. On the Insert tab of the Ribbon, just click “Screenshot” and choose one of the currently opened windows.

Recover Unsaved Documents or Return to an Earlier Version of Your Document in Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word 2010

Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint 2010 have a new feature that allows you to recover unsaved documents, even ones that you never saved. This expands on the AutoSave feature that was available for years, but unlike earlier versions of MS Office, the automated backups are not deleted when you close your Office host. Additionally, multiple versions of your file are maintained, so that you can return to an earlier version of your document.

Broadcast Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Shows to Remote Viewers for Free using Windows Live ID

A new feature in Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 allows you to broadcast slide shows to remote viewers over the web. All you need is a Windows Live ID (free). Microsoft provides a free Broadcast service, and creates the URL for you to share with your viewers.

Thank you for your continued interest and support!

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