Microsoft adds highly requested Large Number (BigInt) support to Access

Microsoft’s productivity app Access may not be high on the list of most used Office programs, but for those who depend on it, the Office team has delivered in a big way.

As stated on the Office Blogs, Access 2016 users can now look forward to support for a highly requested data type called Large Number (BigInt).

As a bit of a refresher, a large portion of business solutions that tap into Access do so with the built-in ability to read and write data from sources that leverage BigInt. With BigInt support coming to Office, users can now utilize the following features:

Add Large Number field to local tables

Large Number (BigInt)—now a supported data type—provides additional analytical capability and deepens the integration experience when users are importing/linking BigInt data. When creating new local tables or editing existing ones, Access now allows users to add fields that store BigInt numbers.

Turn on/off Large Number (BigInt) support for linked/imported tables

Customers specifically asked for the ability to import BigInt columns and link to tables with BigInt columns in a native way. We added an option for users to turn on/off support for Large Number in the current database. Turning Large Number support on allows users to import from and link to tables with BigInt columns, and have them represented in Access in a Large Number format.

The new Access support of BigInt will only available to active Office 365 subscribers with the first testers being Office Insiders and eventually rolling out to subscribers later. Today’s news proves that taking the time to respond via the UserVoice forums can pay off.