Microsoft Access Reviews & Insights

Score7.6 out of 10

842 Reviews and Ratings

Community insights

TrustRadius Insights for Microsoft Access are summaries of user sentiment data from TrustRadius reviews and, when necessary, third party data sources.

Pros

Efficient Database Management: Users have praised the software for its ease of database system management, reporting, and analysis capabilities. Some reviewers found the reporting functionalities and data manipulation tools easy to use, requiring minimal training.

Enhanced User Experience: The graphical interface was highlighted as a key factor that improved user experience and made database management more efficient. Reviewers particularly liked the drag-and-drop components for designing forms and reports, eliminating the need for coding knowledge.

Customizability and Flexibility: Customizability was a key strength mentioned by users who emphasized the ease of creating entity-relationship diagrams and customizing forms and reports. Some users appreciated the software's flexibility in accommodating various business logic requirements and automation needs.

Microsoft Access Reviews

40 Reviews

Enterprises (1,001+ employees)

Great for small database work

Rating: 5 out of 10

Incentivized

December 31, 2024

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Our organization uses Microsoft Access to create and manage databases based on our unique data sets. Access gives us the flexibility for different staff members to generate reports for their programming needs. We also have the option to view the database in different views. This is important since the level of technological competence differs for staff, so having the option to view data in different ways is more meaningful and helpful to staff.

Pros

Individual entry data points
Option for multiple individuals to access the database
Ability to view data in different views

Cons

Speed of functionality decreases as size of database increases
Complex programming sometimes take a long time to run
Both good and bad, all data is in a single file

Likelihood to Recommend

Access works great for small databases where we want to be able to manipulate and look at the data in different ways. It doesn't work too well as the size of the database increases. In fact, it begins to slow down significantly once the size of the database gets too large.

Verified User

Administrator (Education Management company, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

19 years of experience

Nice when is included

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

January 27, 2023

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We needed a lightweight solution that could be easily integrated with our SQL server and could be installed on the user's computers

Pros

Easy to Use
Lightweight
Included with our office 365 licenses

Cons

Speed
Table size
Full text search

Likelihood to Recommend

It fits very well when few transactions are required to be processed but for our solution we had multiple installations on user computers that were synced in batches with our sql server.It is not suitable when the transactionality is high or the access of several users is required simultaneously, nor does it support large tables without significantly affecting performance

Jose Eduardo Escobar

Security Officer in Information Technology at CrediQ (Banking, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

View profile

A superb database management system

Rating: 10 out of 10

Incentivized

December 21, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft Access is one the best software in the database management system. In an organisation when one wants to make a report, Microsoft Access helps to do it perfectly. It is a software where graphic interface, Excel sheets are perfectly maintained. I am fully satisfied with the software. The software is very easy to use.

Pros

Database system can be easily done.
Graphical interface makes it awesome.
Collaboration of documents.

Cons

For huge amount of documents it is beaconing slower.
Security level is low.
It is available for windows user.

Likelihood to Recommend

For me it is a magnificent software and database management system. In this software data can be easily imported as there is no need to import data manually. It also provides free templates which make our work easier. The software is cost effective for an organisation. The interface is also attractive to do work here.

Dhiman Roy

Officer in Customer Service at Sonali Bank Limited (Banking, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

5 years of experience

View profile

Best in Business, Microsoft Access!

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

June 28, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Having worked as a Data Analyst at a reputed retail company, Microsoft Access was one of the major tools that were used for database design, creating entity-relationship diagrams, creating mock layouts of the data schema, and writing queries to retrieve data. At the moment, Microsoft Access was being widely used across the organization. The main reason for using Microsoft Access was its usability and its usual Microsoft user interface that made it easier for nontechnical folks to write queries as well.

Pros

Very easy to create entity-relationship diagrams for various tables and designing mock layouts.
Really easy to navigate as it hold[s] the classic Microsoft UI. Another good thing is that it comes with the complete MS Office Suite.
It is really fast when joining multiple tables no matter what type of join.
Works on pretty much same SQL scripts so no need to learn a new language!

Cons

Need to backup very frequently, I have lost my work many times.
No version for Mac users, [I believe this is a] big limitation.
The ability to handle large database and multiple users.
UI is easy to use but [I feel it] can be improved a lot.

Likelihood to Recommend

Having worked at startups, I can say Microsoft Access is most suited for their needs. Some of the reasons for that can be the ease and ability to create tables, design an entity-relationship diagram, define the relationship between different tables, feeding data into the tables, and retrieving data. All of this can be curated very easily into a process for small to medium-size enterprises. But a serious limitation can be observed where Access does not provide better features for large-scale companies. Another limitation is for companies where Mac is used as work computers.

Rounak Verma

Data Analyst in Engineering at Wayfair (Retail, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

2 years of experience

Simple and Easy database management solution

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

May 15, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We are using Microsoft Access for abstracting data [from] multiple data resources and creating different sorts of management presentations in forms of graphical and rationale outputs. There are various applications and databases linked with Microsoft Access tool in our organization including Excel, MS SharePoint and cloud storages. It has made [...] things easier in many ways as the data is being managed and reports are being generated in [an] automated way for large data as compared to looking up and abstracting for every input manually through VLOOKUPs and using numerous formulas. We are using MS Access in all of our departments across the company and users have access to the centralized domain as per their job roles through SSO.

Pros

Thorough management of data and files.
Data queries are conducted in snap of a time.
Easy and simple database solution with multiple outputs.
User friendly customization options.

Cons

Cannot be use on various non Microsoft platforms.

Likelihood to Recommend

It is [...] well organized and easy to configure and use basic database platform with multiple functions. Data management for multiple resources and abstracting and query from large data is easy and fast with MS Access. The application is good to go for any organization for initial learnings of database management procedures at low cost.

Verified User

Supervisor in Engineering (Telecommunications company, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Access makes my job easier!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

May 13, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I personally prefer to use Microsoft Access over Excel for specific data analysis tasks. I find it easier and more effective to use to cross reference and/or combine differs sets of data. For example, I often have to analyze benefit enrollment data by different demographic characteristics.

Pros

Find matching data points from 2 different data sets
Find unmatched data points from 2 data sets
Amalgamate data ,any different data sets

Cons

A little clunky
Not very intuitive
Have to take time to format data in order to import/work within Microsoft Access

Likelihood to Recommend

Good for combining data from different sources.

Verified User

Team Lead in Human Resources (Media Production company, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

15 years of experience

Access is a great investment for your company

Rating: 9 out of 10

Incentivized

May 13, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

[Microsoft] Access is being used by various departments in the organization. I use it to combine databases with joins, such as combining data within 2 Excel files. It is very useful, because a lot of people at the company manually combine data, or use vlookup. Vlookup is good sometimes, but you only get the first occurrence of the match, whereas doing a join in Access lets you get all matches so you can decide what needs to be kept

Pros

Easy to use, and nearly limitless potential
Fast when joining data sets, whether you are doing inner, outer, full or self joins
Widely used software. Just about every company uses Access, or at least has it installed

Cons

When joining data, if there could be a way to add columns for matches, instead of adding rows

Likelihood to Recommend

[Microsoft] Access is well suited for building data input forms. It is easy to create a form that anyone can use to input data in specific formats. The data then can be modified.

Brian Arsenault

Analyst in Corporate at Evolent Health (Health, Wellness and Fitness, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

3 years of experience

Microsoft Access for Newbies

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

April 30, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Microsoft Access is available to all employees through our Enterprise subscription to Office 365. Access is extremely powerful and a life saver when it comes to working with data, but it can be a bit intimidating at first to get to know.

I was able to self-teach myself the basics of the program and was able to find another power-user of the program at my university to help answer specific questions I had come up about linking to data sources on campus.

Pros

Matching/combining data from two or more sources. (I.e. data from a central student information system and information received from a department-made submission form
Finding errors between two datasets
Saving time when used properly instead of Microsoft Excel

Cons

Generally high learning curve for new users. Especially if they are not comfortable with technology.
Desktop only program; not available in web-format like other O365 products
Fewer experienced users, means it's a lot of self-teaching and troubleshooting when you run into an issue

Likelihood to Recommend

My person recommendation is a 10 for the product!!! I love it and it is a life saver if you work with a lot of data.
However, I rated this an 8 overall because of the Learning curve and limited number of expienced users able to help with questions.
Definitely take the risk to try and learn it though. You won't regret it!

Verified User

Administrator (Higher Education company, 5001-10,000 employees)

Vetted Review

4 years of experience

A good tool for rapid development and prototyping, better for data management than Excel

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

April 22, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

We use Microsoft Access for low code, relational database applications where users are creating, reading, updating, and deleting data (CRUD). Access provides SQL implementation and relational database functionality in a somewhat easy-to-use environment which makes it superb to excel for data management activities. The benefits to access are that is locally stored and a standalone applications with a easy-to-user interface which makes it hard to compete against. Likewise, due to the underlying SQL and relational database architecture, it tends to handle larger sets of data much better than Microsoft Excel.

Pros

Rapid-application Development
Data Entry / Data Management
Local Data Management

Cons

Old SQL Engine (It would be great to use T-SQL Syntax!)
Old Forms Builder (update WYSIWYG forms builder)
No Cloud-based option

Likelihood to Recommend

Microsoft Access is great for local low code, relational database applications where users are creating, reading, updating, and deleting data (CRUD)..
Access provides SQL implementation and relational database functionality in a easy-to-use environment which makes it superb to excel for data management activities.
Useful mostly for locally stored database and not network or cloud-based applications
Easy-to-user interface makes it hard to compete against
The underlying SQL and relational database architecture handles larger sets of data much better than Microsoft Excel.

Verified User

Project Manager in Marketing (Farming company, 10,001+ employees)

Vetted Review

8 years of experience

MS Access: It Has a Place in the Mix

Rating: 8 out of 10

Incentivized

April 8, 2021

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Access is generally not used for core ICT solutions. It is used for 1) local solutions, 2) reporting solutions, 3) prototypes/temporary solutions pending a corporate solution.

Pros

All-in-one solutions (dashboard, data entry, reports/queries, relational data).
As much/little business logic and automation as required.
Can easily be tailored to specific needs of departments/individuals.
Can interact directly with corporate databases (e.g. SQL).

Cons

The need for each user to have their own instance of the front end is an obstacle to more widespread use.
Graphs/charts still seem more difficult to implement than they should be.

Likelihood to Recommend

Well suited: local solutions, reporting solutions, prototype/temporary solutions (e.g. if ICT doesn't have time to build a UI but data collection needs to start now). Less appropriate: 1) more than a handful of users of the particular solution, 2) amateur developers, 3) access required over the www.

Verified User

Analyst in Corporate (Education Management company, 1001-5000 employees)

Vetted Review

20 years of experience

Loading Reviews List....