Last Updated: 8 July 2024

As an Access database developer, discovering this website was an unexpected jackpot of Access code and its various applications. I frequently search for videos and articles to see how other developers utilize Access, and this site consistently left me saying, "I didn't even know Access could do that."

I began rewriting an Access DB program I initially created nearly 20 years ago, which had become quite outdated. My original design relied heavily on queries, resulting in over a hundred in my Navigation Pane after two decades of use. Utilizing Colin's SQL to VBA & Back Again conversion app, I started converting my queries into VBA, creating libraries from which the code is now executed. Remarkably, I have reduced the number of saved queries in my updated DB to just eight.

Exploring the extensive library of downloads Colin offers, I was able to review and study various techniques for creating a DB program. This has significantly elevated the quality of my work.

I also purchased the Database Analyzer Pro application, which has been an invaluable investment. It has simplified the analysis of my database program, allowing me to easily review and pinpoint specific aspects of my work.

Colin's dedication to resolving any issues is outstanding, and working with him has been an educational experience. I highly recommend this website and wholeheartedly support it.

Michael A. Villegas (Giordano), IT Administrator, Fresno, CA, USA



My background is in SAP where we often exported data to Access. I am now volunteering at our local Bus Museum, and they needed a way to search all their photos for showing to visitors and local bus employees. I offered to place their files in an Access database. With the help of Isladogs website, I was able to further enhance and make more solid applications. I am now helping with creating databases for other areas of the museum.

Once they began using the database, they have a new requirement, to be able to search on the general properties tab of the files and then add comments relevant to the pictures. The Extended File Properties application has proved very valuable to achieve the requirements. Colin further enhanced his application, to be able to select the main directory and have the properties for all files, (including files in sub directories) to be downloaded in one event and create a table with all relevant extended property information.

Colin has been very professional and dedicated in helping me find the best solutions.

Andy Watson,SAP SD Business Analyst, casino gaming company (retired), formally Reno, Nevada USA, now Haarlem, The Netherlands



Database Analyser Pro is an outstanding application!!! It is very robust and detail-oriented. Not just for analysis, but for documentation also. This product can replace: MSysQueryObjects, DatabaseObjects, Table Analyzer and a bunch of other code/queries/forms that I have amassed over the years.
Database Analyser Pro is really all that is needed.

Jonathan Moll, Systems Analyst, Chesapeake, VA, United States



I've been coming to this website for a long time now. It's a great website and very useful for my work. I find the utilities and resources very interesting and I have learned a lot from the guides and examples that are published. Also, Colin is a very nice guy; I asked him if he could translate the Access/Windows/Office 365 Version Check Add-In into Spanish and he didn't hesitate for a second.
Thank you so much Colin for making our lives as developers so much easier . . .

Juan Galiana, Developer and analyst, Onteniente, Valencia, Spain



We needed a database of glass material but the original SciGlass database available on GitHub was too old to be opened with current versions of Access. Colin Riddington (Isladogs) helped us by converting the old Access 2.0 database to a version suitable for our current working environment. We are so grateful for the effort!

Mingzhe Chi, PhD of materials science, Jena, Germany



After many years travelling alone in the world of MS Access, I discovered this wonderful, amazing and useful website, managed by Colin, that opened my mind to a new level. Not only did I find very interesting utilities and resources, their links also opened the doors to other great MS Access gurus.

Xavier Batlle, computer engineer & system administrator, Girona, Spain



There is a wealth of information on this site which I have utilized to make our database more secure, more functional, and to reduce errors in the database. Specifically, I found information on securing a database , controlling the user interface , automatic form resizing, and the attention seeking database particularly helpful.

Colin has gone over-and-above, both in support forums and privately to help me with issues, both related and not related to items on his website. Highly appreciated!

Marshall Brooks, unofficial database administrator, Marietta, GA, USA



I'm in the process of developing a database solution for a small office and in a way, this is even harder because there is no dedicated procurement department ensuring that all (or most) monitors are standardized and have the same size. I've been trying to figure out how to re-adjust the size of the forms automatically, and have tried a few options that I found online. Some of them worked to a certain extent, but always failed to account for even the majority of cases (especially for people who have larger monitors). Then I came across automatic form resizing developed by Isladogs. The best compliment I can give it is that I'm still finding it hard to believe that such a professionally made solution could be free. Thank you.

Erekle Antadze, Project Manager, Tbilisi, Georgia



Last week I downloaded your Access database on Extended File Properties. Just wanted to say a huge thanks for the work you have obviously put in and the fact that you make it freely downloadable/available to rank amateur Access users such as myself. Thank you. Please keep up the good work.

Rory Christie, PR/Media/Communications Manager (retired), Christchurch, New Zealand



I found your article regarding the increase in allowable Access Tables and Connections to be very informative and of significant value for developers as well as casual users. As always, your work is superb!

Armund Dezii, Event Manager, The Kravis Center For The Performing Arts, West Palm Beach, FL, USA



I have worked with Access for about 20 years while I was planning and scheduling at a winery. Now that I am retired, I do favours for family and friends that need some sort of a database. Lately, I had a request that required extensive use of colours based on some record value. These records appear in over ten forms and just to make my life miserable, these colours have to be changed 3 times a year.

The solution proposed by Colin allows me to change the colour of all the forms in less than 2 minutes. .
I am 71 years old but I can still be amazed by talent. Thank you.

Jacques Martel, retired but managing a farm boarding horses, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.



As a qualified accountant and medium business owner for 32 years, I always knew that a good administration or process tool can make a huge contribution to success in business. It can make the difference between failure, success or doing very well for a business.

During the past 30 years I did not get to the result of the ultimate system, even though a lot of effort was put in with three members of my close family being programmers.

After working with Colin Riddington about Access, I believe he has good professional manners, a high level of skill and he is honest. I suggest anybody should make use of his knowledge and skills to get results.

Hans van Niekerk, Owner, Perfac Consulting(PTY)Ltd, Centurion, South Africa



Many thanks to Colin for providing the Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) code which enables MS Access to send email without using an SMTP client such as MS Outlook. Using this CDO code we were able to co-host several MS Access applications on Azure and to have them run independently of each other.

The original intention of using MS Outlook on Azure proved to be impractical.
Many thanks for a simple and practical solution.

John Papaioannou, Kosmos Business Systems Ltd, Nicosia Cyprus & Palo Alto, CA, USA



Thank you Colin for your unselfish time and efforts for helping me fix some coding errors I had in my database in order to be able to use and understand how the Automatic Form Resizing code works.

Mario Jaile, Daily Meat Supply Inc., IL, USA



Maximum professionalism, flexibility and education. For those who want to learn programming like a professional this is the right place!

Lorenzo Garuglieri, Management and Optimization of CAD office processes for Prada, Italy



A big 'shout out' to Colin for all the hard work that he puts into his applications. They are truly outstanding.
For example, I have just purchased the source code for the Translate & Speak application.
This will be invaluable for working with clients whose first language isn’t English.

Mendip Data Systems has many amazing utilities to help with your applications.

Noson Rabinovich, Access Developer, NJ, USA



Re: Speed Comparison Test 6 - Query vs SQL vs QueryDef.
Thank you for this information, very interesting. It's nice to see some data behind the claims.

Jeremy Lefort, WNYPropertyAlliance, USA



Thank you Colin for all your assistance in helping me understand and implement the Automatic Form Resizing code. Amazing work and the Zoom feature is awesome.

Kevin Baker, Developer, Database Designs LLC, Wilson, NC, USA



I have grown in the knowledge of Access applications by keenly following posts on the Mendip Data Systems website which is a powerhouse of professional exemplified code examples. Thanks Colin for your selfless mind

Oliver Jaika, High School Teacher, Mbale, Kenya



I contacted Colin Riddington at Mendip Data Systems regarding a repair of a corrupted access database as all attempts to repair it myself had failed.

However, Colin offered to help and was able to recover the data in record time without any loss. I'm so grateful for his expertise, he's a lifesaver! We didn't have a recent backup and he has saved us so much time from redoing the data entry all over again.

Omar AlMatar, Hamad Medical Corporation, Egypt



Just found your site on a Google search. I REALLY liked it and intend to use some of your free code, as well as to read all your articles since I am a beginner in Access. Thanks! I made a small donation by the way.

Gerardo Hubard, Adley Developments Inc, USA



I want to extend a sincere thank you to Colin for sharing his time and expertise in MS Access. As anyone in the Access community knows, Colin is often the one to sort things out for message board posters when they run into challenges with Access. Colin recently guided me in a project that uses the Automatic Form Resizing code that he has worked on over many years. Colin is always patient and somehow is able to explain things clearly. I strongly recommend for anyone who wants to improve their own Access applications to look over Mendip Data Systems' wealth of articles and samples and feel free to reach out to Colin if you need a friendly hand to assist you. You won't regret it!

Jacob B, Access Developer, Toronto, ON, Canada



Thank you all for the work you do and for taking the time to make such good work available to other developers via your website.

Dave Thompson, Independent Access Developer, Allen , TX, USA



I am implementing a database-based application that will be used by the Information Services staff of our department. I needed a login system to make the program more secure, and the Password Login application from Mendip Data Systems was the answer.

The ease of importing the database into ours, as well as configuring to suit our environment resulted in its implementation in short order. Thank-you to Colin for authoring this great product.

Andrew Kaplan, Systems Manager, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA



I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude for the effective expertise provided by Colin Riddington at Mendip Data Systems. For the past few months, I have been trying to get a form to automatically fit different screen resolutions. During this time, I have posted questions in a forum on the subject and I have been searching the internet, but was unable to adjust the form successfully.

However, Colin offered his knowledge and experience and answered my design and development queries related to the topic in considerable detail. Colin provided me with the working solution on a copy of my database Once again, Colin receives my unconditional thanks as one of the best Access professionals.

Dori Imperial, High School Teacher, Murcia, Spain



As a Microsoft Access programmer for more than thirty years, I was delighted to find the Mendip Data Systems site. On their site, there are many database examples for download and I reviewed a number of them. From both a programming and aesthetic point of view, these examples were excellent. Based on this review, I am confident that Mendip Data Systems has the ability to produce very professional and useful databases for their customers.

Adam L., Senior Software Engineer, New York, NY, USA



I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincerest praise and gratitude for the effective consulting expertise provided by Colin Riddington at Mendip Data Systems.

Over the past few months, my organization has been redesigning its HR legacy database. During this time, we frequently posted questions in an Access developers' forum. Here, Colin offered his knowledge and know-how and regularly answered (in great level of detail) many of our database-related design & development inquiries.

Colin provided us with several database examples and even facilitated the functional integration of various Access solutions into our new database. Specifically, he assisted with the implementation of both an "auto shutdown" routine as well as the proper conversion of standard Access macros into VBA code (given the built-in macro conversion process yielded multiple errors). Again, Colin receives my unconditional endorsement as one of the very top performers in his profession.

Tom Bock, Management Analyst, Consolidated Analysis, Virginia, USA



One of my clients experienced severe data corruption in a split Microsoft Access backend database on the network. The network backup drive was also found to be non-functional. The only hope for this business to survive was to salvage data from the corrupted files. Some system files were lost, and all of the data storage tables behaved like system files. I posted my problem on a forum and Colin from Mendip Data Systems picked up the thread. He invited me to send him the damaged file, which I did. Within 24 hours he returned it to me with all tables, both system and data, working properly. The business owner and I are very grateful to Mendip Data Systems for saving us the time and frustration of completely rebuilding the back end tables of this database application.

Doug Happ, HappTech Databases, New York, USA



Colin from Mendip Data Systems always has a wealth of information and suggestions for our MS Access applications, I'm really glad there are people out there like him to help and share what they have learned. Would gladly recommend his advice and help in what ever you do. Thanks Colin. Much appreciated.

Robert S. Davis, Payfast Enterprises, Geneseo, NY, USA



I needed a reliable Log In / Log Out system for a MS Access database i was designing. Colin from Mendip Data Systems provided me with both the correct VBA code and forms to make it work within my existing system. I also had several questions regarding the implementation of the code which were answered very clearly and professionally. Highly recommended

Emma Ryan, Dublin, Ireland



I wanted a buzzer to go off when the user entered some invalid data. Three previous versions of essentially the same routine that point at a particular DLL I tried didn't work. The free Countdown Timer from Mendip Data Systems had a very straightforward approach to the sound play.

I pieced it into my application, and it worked the first time! Thanks a lot Colin!! Great work!

Brian Prenovost, Best Data Processing, Holiday, Florida, USA



I needed help with suggestions on designing a quotation system and found that Mendip Data Systems had a wealth of knowledge when applying Microsoft Access solutions and decided to approach them with my idea. The results I had received were informative and easy to understand, which made it simpler for someone who did not have an advanced knowledge of Microsoft Access.

I particularly liked how the solution was broken down into easier chunks to read and understand and was also very honest about whether something was simple or complex to achieve using Access.

I would recommend Mendip Data Systems to anyone that was looking for an Access solution as the information provided was both fair and concise.

Stuart Ginns, Tender Executive, Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry
Thermo Fisher Scientific, UK



If, having used Access for years, you believe that you can somehow manage almost everything by yourself, do look closely at the applications on the Mendip Data Systems website ... there are many free examples for you to try out.

Then, when your databases need highly professional attention, you will know who to turn to ...

Marco Baldari, Tuscany, Italy



Mendip Data Systems recently converted my business database application built many years ago using MS Access version 2.0 (from 1994) to the current version (2016), solving issues that I had wrestled with unsuccessfully for several hours. All database objects were successfully updated and the new version worked perfectly without any problems

This was a very professional and prompt service. Highly recommended

Dave Cheetham, Auckland, New Zealand



Mendip Data Systems have been very helpful in helping me to customize an application taken mainly from the free UK PostCodes example application and which is packed full of very useful features. I am looking forward to the release of his UK Postal Address Finder application which I am sure will be of great benefit to organisations who require that little more, adding street addresses will only enhance what is already a fabulous product.

Les Hunter, Gloucestershire, UK



School Data Analyser is a fantastic resource and has enabled school leaders and classroom teachers to have real time access to a vast range of data and analysis tools in a quick and easily accessed format. It has played a central role in school improvement. The pastoral and mentoring sections have been particularly helpful and staff love how all the information on a particular student is all in one easily accessible place

Tony Sammon, Headteacher, Mendip Partnership School, Glastonbury, UK



School Data Analyser has revolutionised the way that we monitor the behaviour of our students. Before we used School Data Analyser there was paper everywhere, procedures were slow and time elapsed between incidents happening and consequences put in place. Now we have the information at our fingertips, tutors and heads of year can investigate rapidly and monitor their pupils easily. The extensive help and support ensures that staff are able to use all features effectively even if they are new to the program. The support we get with School Data Analyser is fantastic with rapid response times and clear explanations. Suggestions for improvement are well received and discussed so that the software is always being improved.

Stephen Spurrell, E-Learning Manager,
St Bernadette Catholic Secondary School, Bristol, UK



The Curriculum Enrichment Organiser database allows me to manage a complicated enrichment programme and keep accurate student data. Without this it would be extremely difficult to maintain such a vast number of variables. Having this program means that more time can be spent creating diverse learning experiences for young people which is paramount...

Abbie Edbrooke, Enrichment Programme & Educational Visits Officer,
Worle Community School, Weston-super-Mare, UK