Migrating from Access 2007 to Access 2010: Has Anything Been Removed?
Microsoft promises that Office 2010 will be released sometime “in the first half of 2010.” Until then, many IT managers and other users of Access databases are anxiously waiting to see if migration to Access 2010 will be smooth, necessary, or even possible.
In the first article in this series, we explored what new features have been added to Access 2010. The second article discussed things that have changed from previous versions of Access, especially Access 2007. This third article in a series of three discusses what Microsoft has removed from Access 2010 in comparison to earlier versions of Access. Read on to learn what you won’t find in Access 2010 and what you can do about it to make migration to the new version of Access as smooth as possible.
What’s Been Removed from Microsoft Access 2010?
To start, the Microsoft Calendar control (mscal.ocx) has been completely removed from Access 2010. Microsoft suggests that users consider the Date Picker control as an alternative. In fact, Microsoft informs us that opening up an Access 2007 database that uses the Microsoft Calendar control in Access 2010 will generate an error message. In addition, the Calendar Control will not even appear in the database in this case. Users are advised to be prepared for the removal of the Calendar Control and deal with it prior to opening up an Access 2007 database in Access 2010.
The Microsoft Replication Conflict Viewer has been removed from Access 2010. However, an alternative property called the ReplicationConflictFunction is available. In fact, Microsoft is preempting problems associated with the removal of this feature with advice on how to create a custom procedure for resolving conflicts with synchronization.
As discussed in the first article in this series, native support for exporting data to PDF and XPS files has been added to Access 2010. This was in anticipation of removing the Snapshot file format available in previous versions of Access.
The option to export a report as a Snapshot file has been completely removed from Access 2010. However, many would agree that the ability to export to PDF and XPS files, both of which preserve layout and formatting settings, is a welcomed change.
Access 2007 did not allow the creation, modification, or importation of data access pages like previous versions of Access. However, data access pages continued to function in Access 2007. Access 2010 pushes data access pages further out of the picture by allowing you to open a database with data access pages but they will no longer function as they did in Access 2007.
When opening an Access 2007 database with data access pages, Access 2010 will return an error that they are no longer supported. Microsoft suggests creating a web database and publishing it to a SharePoint site through Access Services. This alternative may or may not work for some database and database applications so be sure to explore the removal of data access page support before you migrate to Access 2010.
Access 2007 supported linking, importing, and exporting using the Installable Index Sequential Access Method (IISAM) for Lotus1-2-3, Paradox, and Jet2.x. Access 2010 does not support this method.
Microsoft itself recommends that if you need this functionality in an Access database, to continue using Access 2007 or even an earlier version of Access. If you attempt to make a link, import, or export data using the IISAM, you will receive an error from Access 2010 and will be not able to continue the operation.
Conclusion
As with the changes to Access 2010 discussed in the previous article in this series, not much has been removed from Microsoft’s latest database application. Probably the most import removal was the Calendar control. However, Microsoft has anticipated this removal and has recommended the Data Picker control as an alternative.
Problems with the removal of the Replication Conflict Viewer removal have already been addressed by Microsoft in its Knowledge Base so this should provide few users of Access with extended issues. The same is true for the removal of the Snapshot file format. The PDF and XPS file formats are far more versatile and convenient, especially since they retain the layout and formatting information found natively in the database.
Use of data access pages will be a problem for those still using them. Interestingly, Microsoft has provided no workaround for this removal other than the recommendation to use a previous version of Access. Finally, some functionality in linking, importing and exporting data using IISAM has been removed in Access 2010. Still, this method of linking, importing, and exporting data has many workarounds and alternatives so it probably will affect few significantly.
This series of three articles has looked at the additions, changes, and removals we can expect when Access 2010 is released in 2010. Migration from Access 2007 should be quite smooth for most people and companies given the changes discussed in this series. As we near the actual release of Office 2010, more issues and information should be available from Microsoft as to any changes, additions, and deletions. In addition, more specific information and recommendations about migrating from Access 2007 should become available over the coming months.
This post is part of the series: Migrating to Access 2010: What’s New, What’s Changed, and What’s Been Removed Since Access 2007?
The first article in this series discusses what’s new in Access 2010. The second article explores what’s changed from Access 2007. The third article in the series discusses what’s been removed from Access 2010 from Access 2007. Learn everything you need to know before you migrate to Access 2010.
