There are a lot of different ways that you can hide the [X] Close Button in Access, but most of the ways that work in Access 2000 and Access 2003 do NOT work in Access 2007.

After a lot of searching and testing, I was able to find one that does in fact work with Access 2007 and wanted to share it with everyone.

Hi there
The code is hiding the minimize button rather than the close button for me...any thoughts?

Hi I use the following and it appears to work in 2007 (unsure about 2010 as I dont have it). I hope this helps


Private Const GWL_STYLE = (-16)
Private Const WS_CAPTION = &HC00000
Private Const WS_MINIMIZEBOX = &H20000
Private Const WS_MAXIMIZEBOX = &H10000
Private Const WS_SYSMENU = &H80000
Const MF_BYCOMMAND = &H0&
Const MF_DISABLED = &H2&
Const MF_ENABLED = &H0&
Const MF_GRAYED = &H1&
Const SC_CLOSE = &HF060&

Private Declare Function apiEnableMenuItem Lib "User32" Alias "EnableMenuItem" (ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal wIDEnableMenuItem As Long, ByVal wEnable As Long) As Long
Private Declare Function apiGetSystemMenu Lib "User32" Alias "GetSystemMenu" (ByVal hWnd As Long, ByVal Flag As Long) As Long

Function DisableAccessCloseButton(bEnable As Boolean, Optional ByVal lhWndTarget As Long = 0) As Long
On Error GoTo Handle_Error

'DisableAccessCloseButton(True) turns on the X close button
'DisableAccessCloseButton(False) turns off the X close button

Dim lhWndMenu As Long, lReturnVal As Long, lAction As Long
lhWndMenu = apiGetSystemMenu(iif(lhWndTarget = 0, Application.hWndAccessApp, lhWndTarget), False)
If lhWndMenu <> 0 Then
If bEnable Then
lAction = MF_BYCOMMAND Or MF_ENABLED
Else
lAction = MF_BYCOMMAND Or MF_DISABLED Or MF_GRAYED
End If
lReturnVal = apiEnableMenuItem(lhWndMenu, SC_CLOSE, lAction)
End If
DisableAccessCloseButton = lReturnVal

Exit_Process:
Exit Function

Handle_Error:
msgbox("Error: " & err.number & vbcrlf & errdescription
Resume Exit_Process

End Function

Instead of determining if the "X" is clicked, or trying to hide it altogether, I take a more proactive and less code intensive approach and PREVENT the "X" from being activated by setting the Main Menu form's (or if you don't have/use a switchboard or main menu - a hidden form will do) 'OnUnload' event procedure to evaluate the the state of a global boolean variable I named "myOKtoClose".

Create a global boolean variable named (say): "myOKtoClose"

Or set a TempVars up like so:

TempVars.Add "myOKtoClose", False

(TempVars only work in Access 2007 & up)

At app start up, "myOKtoClose" is set to false (if you use Tempvars - it's done like above) and the main menu form (which is open during the entire session - either open, hidden or minimized at the client's discretion) has the following line in the OnUnload event (in VBA):

If Not myOKtoClose Then Cancel = True

If using TempVars: If TempVars!myOKtoClose Then Cancel = True

This prevents the form from closing, effectively disabling the user's ability to close Access by clicking on the 'X'.

To allow the main menu form to close, I place a command button that says "Quit Application" in its caption and set the following 'OnClick' event in VBA:


The above (without the Tempvars) works in all versions of Access. The TempVars portions only work in Access 2007 and up. They are demonstrated because a TempVar will not loose it's value if the system errors. A Global variable can loose it's contents on a system error.