Microsoft Access Programmer In South Pasadena, California

Question: Is Microsoft Access Still A Good Choice For Small Business Apps?

Answer: Yes. For many internal tools, Access is still a practical choice. When the tables are designed well and the database is split correctly, it can run daily work without drama.

Question: Why Do Multi-User Access Databases Lock Up Or Show Write Conflict Messages?

Answer: Here's what we usually find: lockups come from deployment, not Access itself. Don't let several people open the same front end file on a shared drive, because they end up sharing forms, code, and temporary objects. A simple fix is to split the database, give each user a local front end, and tighten up forms that open on too many records. If you're still seeing conflicts after that, we'll review record locking, long-running queries, and any VBA that edits records inside loops.

A common fix is simple: split the database, give each user a local front end, and tighten up forms that open on too many records. If you're still seeing conflicts after that, we'll review record locking, long-running queries, and any VBA that edits records inside loops.

Question: What Causes Access Crashes Or Corruption In The Real World?

Answer: The usual culprits are shared front ends, unreliable network paths, and imports that bring in messy data. Crashes can also come from unhandled VBA errors that leave objects open.

We stabilize the basics first, then add a lightweight error log so the next crash leaves useful clues. That's how you stop the - it only happens sometimes - cycle.

Question: What Usually Makes Access Reports Slow In Real Life?

Answer: It's usually missing indexes, heavy joins, or reports that do too much work before filtering. If a report pulls an entire table first and filters later, everybody waits.

We've seen this in South Pasadena when a dispatcher is filtering today's jobs while accounting runs month-end invoices. Once the query is tightened, the date range is applied early, and the right fields are indexed, the same report often drops from minutes to seconds.

Question: Do We Have To Move Everything To SQL Server To Be Reliable?

Answer: It depends on your workload. Many systems run well with Access as both the front end and the back end when tables are designed well and the file is kept compact. But if you're hitting timeouts, large imports, or lots of people writing at once, you'll usually get better speed and fewer headaches by moving tables to SQL Server and keeping Access for forms and reports.

SQL Server becomes attractive when tables grow, concurrency rises, or you need stronger permissions, auditing, and safer backups. The nice part is you can keep Access as the familiar front end while SQL Server handles storage and multi-user load.

Question: Can You Help With ACCDE Builds And 32-Bit Vs 64-Bit Office Issues?

Answer: Yes. Mixed Office installs are common, and they can break references or API calls if the code isn't updated. We'll update 64-bit declarations where needed and compile ACCDEs for each Office version you need to support, so you don't get surprises during deployment.

Question: How Do We Start Without Risking Our Live Data?

Answer: We start with a safe copy of your database, not the live file. You give us a short list of what's failing, plus steps to reproduce it, and we test fixes in an isolated copy first.

When changes are ready, we plan a clean rollout window and keep a fallback copy, just in case anything behaves differently in production. You'll know what's changing and why before it touches day-to-day work.