Hi!

Is anyone using Access in conjunction with an Office365 Sharepoint account? Is it working for you - because I can't get it working for me, and have failed over a few weeks to find a resolution/solution/answer to questions. My specific issue has to do with using Sharepoint linked lists as backend tables with an Access front end. I'd love to:

1. Just confirm that this *should* work.
2. Have someone help me with a big issue: there appears to be no way to just fire up the Access application and have it automatically link to the back end data. It just fails. I've had a suggestion that the Office365 account will implement a "time-out" after a period of inactivity, which is reasonable, but there should be a "log-in" screen generated when Access tries to connect to the back end, or, that's what I *imagine* should happen. Note: This may only be an issue with an Office365 Sharepoint setup, I don't know...

Thanks!
Fred Boer

Yes, I use Access 2010 with Office365. Other regular posters here have done so. It works very well. My Blog on migrating tables to SP

It is true that you may have to reconnect to your O365 site after a period of inactivity. It's a security issue.

In my most frequently used access/SP database, I get the log on screen when I start it the first time every day. No big deal, IMO.

But you never get the log in screen? Is that your problem?

Thanks so much for your response. (I've been offline for a few days). I will check out your blog, asap.

Yes, I don't get a login screen. I would have no issue with needing to log in to use Access/SP, but to this point, I haven't had anyone suggest that a login process *should* happen, or how I can make it happen.

I appreciate any help, thanks!

Fred

P.S. I am trying to use Office365 Sharepoint with Office 2003 and/or 2007 - I do not have Office 2010.

THanks.

Sorry, maybe I misunderstood. Can you link to the lists at all? Or is this a problem only at startup of the Access database?

I'm sure I didn't explain well, let me try again.

I created a new, very basic. test database in Access 2007 (and also using Access 2003). I used Sharepoint lists to store the data, and linked to these lists from Access. The application appeared to work just fine. I was able to add/edit records using the Access database front end, and the records were there when I logged into the Sharepoint Office365 account.

However, after closing the application for several hours (or overnight), on re-opening, the application would stop working and begin to throw error messages (e.g. "can't open table", "could not find the object..." ) - which I presumed were due to issues in connecting to the back end.

Interestingly, if I then logged into the Office365 account within a browser, the Access database would begin to work fine.

This, to me, strongly suggests an issue with permissions/logging in. However, Access 2007 did not offer me a login screen. I guess I just assumed it would be able to maintain the links to the Sharepoint lists, or that it would prompt for a login, but neither seems to be the case.

Hope this helps! Thanks for taking the time to assist!

Let's go with your hypothesis that there is a problem with remembering your sign-in.

Have you tried the methods suggested in this article and seeing if it makes any difference?


The another hypothesis I have is that because you're using 2007 (or 2003), there is no mechanism for gracefully disconnecting (you need 2010 for that), a network drop could be fatal for Access (just as it would be if it was linked to SQL Server or whatever). Therefore, if you know that you would have same problem with your Access linked to SQL Server (or any ODBC compliant RDBMS), then that points to the network being the culprit. In this case, the workaround is (exclusive to 2007 only) always disconnect and work offline & sync only when you actually need to sync. You can automate 2007's behavior with something like DoCmd.RunCommand acCmdToggleOffline (IIRC).

Thanks for jumping in!

I will certainly completely read the article for which you provided a link. However, even while reading the first paragraph, this caught my eye:

"Office365 has their own custom security and thus we get a different login form when we open an Access database that depends on Office365 (whether as a published web database or containing linked tables to lists on the site):"

Not to keep going on and on, but this sentence suggests that when opening an Access database I should be getting a login form. But I don't get a login form - that, I think, is the crux of the situation. I certainly can log into my Office365 account through the browser, but I want that login process to work from within Access...

Thanks!

What happens when you completely sign out of your O365 (from web browser, close all applications that may use 0365 in some fashion (that could be Access, Outlook, Excel and Word), shut down any SharePoint application (e.g. SharePoint Workspace, SharePoint Designer?).... then you open Access? Do you get a login then?

Do you recall ever getting a login (doesn't have to be within Access) and doing "Remember Me?"?

Note furthermore, that this is not an Access thing at all -- it's an Internet Explorer thing which is why if you logged in some other way, it's possible for Access to piggyback and vice versa.

Hi!

I have tried that - and I tried it again just now. Closed browser, closed Access application. Restarted Access application - and it was able to find the Sharepoint lists. In the past, my experience has been that Access will be able to connect to the Sharepoint lists for a certain length of time - in a Sharepoint forum where I asked about this I was told the "token" would last for about 8 hours.

I have never received a login screen when trying to use the Access application by itself. I have yet to find out definitively if such a process actually is possible... does Access provide this kind of functionality?

I have logged in using the browser, and it does remember my identity, but not my password.

I think I understand that this is an Explorer thing, but I guess I'm a bit disappointed - I had hoped that it would just be seamless to my users, and that they could open the Access application and it would link to the data. Or, if that was asking too much, that the user could open the Access application, be presented with a login screen, and then use the data. The way it looks like it really works is that the user has to rely on Internet Explorer to remember the account and password information; I'm pretty sure this won't work, since these people use machines that IT has locked down tight as a drum, and they would not be able to make use of Explorer settings. I am not certain about this - I need to try the suggestions about storing the information on a "locked-down" work machine, but I'm pretty sure that the way these machines are set up will hinder those solutions.

And I am assuming, of course, that there isn't some setting or option in Office365 that I could change or have failed to set correctly.

I appreciate your help!

Thanks!

P.S. My apologies - on my personal computer (not one which IT has "locked down") I just discovered that I am able to log into the Office365 account using a browser, and been able to check "Remember Me" as well as "Keep Me Signed In". Still not sure about the "locked down" computers from my workplace, though.

Fred

Is this Office365 actually owned by the company and therefore managed by IT?


The other option is that Office365 offers some support - if you're an admin, you should be able to get the support options (vary by plans, I believe) when you go into the admin panel and use one of those to get the answer you're looking for?

Thanks for all the help; I believe I have a better understanding of the situation. However, before I can move forward I need to:

a) Wait several hours or until tomorrow morning, to be sure my "token" has expired and see if I have been logged out of my Office365 account or if using the "Keep me signed in" checkbox will ensure that I can re-connect without logging in manually.

b) Get on a "locked down" work computer and see whether the IT restrictions will be a hindrance.

I will be back to report on my progress, if you care to follow the thread.

Thanks very much!

Hello:

The Office365 account I am using is a personal account, not managed by workplace IT. I have posted a question in a Sharepoint forum, but was not able to get a completely satisfactory answer. (Basically I was told that the account used a "token" that expired after 8 hours. Being a Sharepoint forum, however, support for the "Access" side of the question wasn't available.)

The Office365 account is a trial account. I've migrated from an OfficeLive account. I am not currently paying for the Office365 account - I have several months left in the trial period. I don't imagine I'd be eligible for official Microsoft support, but I confess, it never occurred to me to even try that route - I've had a long history of using newsgroups for any Access development support. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

All I was really trying to do was to create a demo of a working Access/Sharepoint application to teach myself about this environment and also to create a demo to show management to try to inform my management about the possibilities of this platform and to encourage them to support the development of a database. I have created many useful small applications with Access, but our current needs require using a WAN and VPN, so I was intrigued by the possibilities of Access with Sharepoint as a back end.

I am using both personal computers and "locked down" workplace computers.

The problems discussed in this thread have been a roadblock, but if I can get past this issue, I'm excited about the possibilities!

Cheers!

Well, I tried it this morning, and it appears that checking "Keep me signed in" will expire given enough time. So, if I am not mistaken, unless one can use the methods provided by Mr. Clothier (which won't work on my "locked down" workplace computers - I've now checked), one is faced with the clumsy process of logging into the Office365 account in the browser, and then running the Access application. Not what I was hoping for..

Thanks!