Product Guide

Background

The need for formatted text in Access has existed as long as Access itself. Users and developers are constantly looking for ways to include formatting within fields. Formatting like fonts, bullet points, indentation, colors, images and alignment.

Unfortunately, Access provides no native way to accomplish this. The typical solution is to invoke Microsoft Word through automation to achieve rich text. The problems with this approach are many-fold:

• Word is a large program that takes a long time to load. Trying to use Word as an editing solution on table data is almost always unworkable.
• Embedding Word in an Access form using OLE is generally unstable as the links break on any machine that is not configured identically to the build machine.
• Word does not offer a solution for Access reports, where the need for formatted text is often the most acute.

Similarly, some have tried to use the Microsoft Rich Text ActiveX control as a solution. This control exhibits the following problems:

• As a Microsoft ActiveX control, the Rich Text control is prone to failure if an application installs a newer version. Microsoft often updates controls as part of an application's installation process, leading to non-functional ActiveX controls.
• The Rich Text control does not reliably support data-binding in Access reports.
• The Rich Text control offers no capability for editing text other than typing into the control itself. There are no provisions for applying formatting, changing fonts, or any of the other content options people need with rich text.
• The Rich Text control doesn't support spell checking which is critical as people enter more text.

The Total Access Memo Solution

We have our Total Access Memo product to solve these needs since Access 2.0. Total Access Memo provides a complete rich text editing solution that works in form and reports, and supplies a robust editing environment.

Our latest release adds new features, improved performance, and support for 64-bit versions of Office 365, Access 2019, 2016, 2013 and 2010. Total Access Memo also supports the 32-bit versions of all Access editions since Access 2000.

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Running the Sample Database

One of the most important resources of Total Access Memo is the Sample Database. This database is an Access database containing forms, reports, and VBA code showing how to use the Total Access Memo custom control in your application. The forms, reports, and modules are designed to be easy to “take apart” so you can see how things work.

The database TAMemoSample.accdb, is located in the installation folder of Total Access Memo. To open the database, press the Windows Start button and select Total Access Memo, Sample Database. It will open with your current version of Access.

Putting Total Access Memo to work in your Access database could not be easier.

Step 1: Open the Form Design, click the Control drop-down button and select ActiveX Controls.

With Total Access Memo, you have complete control over the formatting, style, and appearance of your text.

The latest version of Total Access Memo includes 32 and 64-bit ActiveX versions to support both bitness of Microsoft Access 2010 through Office 365. The 32-bit version supports Access 2000 to 2007.