32-bit or 64-bit (1 Viewer)

isladogs · Jul 15, 2018

Gradually the number of people using 64-bit Access seems to be increasing & there has been a corresponding increase in questions related to 64-bit in recent months.
However, unlike in Excel, 64-bit seems to have no advantages over 32-bit Access.
In fact Microsoft still recommend 32-bit for almost all users.

Despite this, developers have to cater for both 'bitnesses' in terms of ensuring apps work on all client workstations.
This entails conditional API declarations and having to provide ACCDE files for both 32-bit & 64-bit systems.

In my recent security challenge I provided both 32-bit & 64-bit versions: https://www.access-programmers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=300434
I was surprised to find that the ratio of downloads so far is 3:2 (33 for 32-bit, 22 for 64-bit).
I was expecting a much smaller uptake for 64-bit

So here's a poll to try & get info from more AWF members and possibly inform those developing apps whether they need to cater for both
Please can you indicate which you currently use

Many thanks

lpapad · Jul 16, 2018

New pcs are 64 bit with 64 bit OS. Why run 32 bit apps on them? I am for 64bit.

jleach · Jul 16, 2018

64bit makes it more difficult to use a lot of the older ActiveX controls.

A few years back we got more or less pushed into supporting it because clients were installing the default from the new CTR installations, which was 64 (they didn't know any better). Eventually we got the majority of the boilerplate code converted to support both and as of now it's (mostly) six one/half dozen the other.

isladogs · Jul 16, 2018

AFAIK certain ActiveX controls cannot be used in 64-bit at all e.g. Flexgrid, some Treeview controls etc,
it's one of the reasons why I don't use them.

I don't remember when 64-bit Office was ever the default installation.
IIRC, you've always had to make a deliberate choice to install it in a 64-bit Windows OS

In my client base, it's still a tiny minority who use 64-bit. Probably less than 10%. Unfortunately, that's big enough that I can't ignore it especially as some of the program admins are amongst the 64-bit minority.

jleach · Jul 16, 2018

At one point one of the early O365 installs used to default to it (not sure if they still do). We had a self-IT'd client whose whole office wound up with it because of that - I had to show him how to explicitly select the 32bit. Maybe 3-4 years ago? (that was my final driving factor to get on the dual-support bandwagon)

isladogs · Jul 16, 2018

jleach said:
At one point one of the early O365 installs used to default to it (not sure if they still do). We had a self-IT'd client whose whole office wound up with it because of that - I had to show him how to explicitly select the 32bit. Maybe 3-4 years ago? (that was my final driving factor to get on the dual-support bandwagon)

Hmm. I don't remember that but it's certainly not the case now.
Either way, in my view the reality is we need to accept and work with both flavours of Office.

However I'm still unaware of any clear advantages to 64-bit Access. A couple of very slow procedures seem faster on 64-bit but that's probably just the spec of the PC running it. However, I don't seem to get 'system resource exceeded' errors on 64-bit. Also max locks per file and disk buffer size type issues seem to rarely occur on my 64-bit laptop.

CJ_London · Jul 16, 2018

So far as I am aware the only users who benefit from 64bit office are excel power users manipulating large amounts of data (in memory). All the other office apps in use are constrained by user interaction - or in the case of access, disk i/o.

Now if access could work off virtual tables...… 64bit could be a real benefit

However I concur - the perception is 64bit will be better so gets installed so needs to be supported.

I only have one client (60+ users) who used 64bit office - but they have now gone back to 32bit, not sure why, it wasn't anything to do with access.

isladogs · Jul 16, 2018

See this link for Microsoft's explanation of when 64-bit may be better for a minority of Excel, Powerpoint and Project users. https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Choose-between-the-64-bit-or-32-bit-version-of-Office-2dee7807-8f95-4d0c-b5fe-6c6f49b8d261.

Interestingly, the reason given for MS Project is to allow file sizes larger than the 2GB limit.
Yet, as we all know, the 2GB limit still applies in 64-bit Access,

To repeat, MS still recommends 32-bit for most users and the list of reasons given for doing so far exceeds those for choosing 64-bit.

gemma-the-husky · Jul 18, 2018

I expect relatively unsophisticated users will just install 64-bit access, as they have a 64-bit windows, and it probably just seesm the right one to use.

I ask them to reinstall the 32 bit version.

Minty · Jul 18, 2018

It's company policy to install Office 365 64-Bit, which includes Access.
So I've had no choice other than to accommodate both versions so that the apps still run on the slowly being removed legacy equipment.

I now develop in 2016 64-Bit, and have managed to largely avoid Active X controls, apart from having to re-write a treeview process. I recreated a simpler version in VBA, but it wasn't as functional, but the database was being dropped so I didn't enhance it any further.

32-bit or 64-bit (1 Viewer)

32-bit or 64-bit Access

32-bit only

64-bit only

Both 32-bit & 64-bit

Not sure

isladogs

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lpapad

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jleach

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isladogs

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jleach

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isladogs

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CJ_London

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isladogs

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gemma-the-husky

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Minty

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