How to Replace Your Retired Microsoft Access Salesforce Connector

Microsoft officially retired the built-in Salesforce ODBC connector in Access on October 28, 2025 for Microsoft 365 monthly versions and November 11 for semi-annual and perpetual licenses. Teams that relied on Access for quick Salesforce data pulls, lightweight reports, and dashboard connections suddenly found their Microsoft Access Salesforce connection not working.

Here, we discuss what happened, who’s affected, and how to get your data flowing again with minimal disruption.

What Changed with the bundled Salesforce ODBC driver from Microsoft?

Recently, Microsoft announced the retirement of their bundled Salesforce ODBC driver in Access. The decision affects thousands of teams who used Access as a quick way to query Salesforce data for reports, analysis, and lightweight business intelligence tasks.

Here’s what you need to know about the change:

• The retirement affects Access 2019, Access 2021, Access 2024, and Microsoft 365 subscriptions
• Existing Access databases with Salesforce connections now show error messages instead of live data
• The ODBC framework in Access still works fine – you just need a new driver

The tech giant made the change and has chosen to prioritize providing security updates for a new bundled driver after June 2026. Instead of leaving users with an unsupported connector, they chose to remove it entirely.

Who This Affects

The scope of the disruption extends beyond individual users to entire business processes that depend on Access as a data gateway. Organizations discovered that workflows they’ve relied on for months or years suddenly required immediate attention. Understanding exactly who needs to take action helps prioritize your response and plan the migration effectively.

The change directly impacts several types of teams and workflows:

• Data teams pulling Salesforce data into Access for quick queries, ad-hoc reports, or dashboard creation. If you’ve been using Access as a lightweight BI tool for Salesforce data, your existing connections are now broken.
• Business analysts running scheduled reports that automatically pull fresh Salesforce data into Access tables. These automated workflows stopped functioning when Microsoft removed the driver.
• Teams with existing Access databases that include linked tables connected to Salesforce objects like accounts, contacts, or custom objects. These linked tables now show error messages instead of live data.

While seeking out an Access Salesforce ODBC driver replacement, look for one that restores the connectivity layer between Access and Salesforce, your existing queries, reports so that your database structures don’t need to change. Details to look for are connectivity at enterprise scale, support, and partnerships built for the long term.

Replace Your Retired ODBC Connector With Ease

Simba from insightsoftware provides an enterprise-grade solution with over 30 years of data connectivity expertise as the team that originally created the ODBC standard itself. Simba has been powering Microsoft Salesforce connectivity under the hood for years with the same proven driver and reliable performance.

For teams that need additional assistance with driver configuration or have complex Access databases with multiple Salesforce connections, Simba’s support team provides white-glove setup assistance to ensure a smooth transition.

Simba offers:

• Battle-tested reliability. Simba drivers power data connectivity for Google, Microsoft, and Snowflake when enterprise-grade reliability matters most. The same technology that handles millions of queries daily can certainly handle your Access workflows.
• Enterprise-grade capabilities including real-time access, SQL query support, metadata discovery, and enterprise authentication options like OAuth, SSO, and LDAP integration.
• White-glove support from a dedicated team. When you need help with setup or troubleshooting, you get responses from real humans who understand data connectivity challenges.

How to Migrate From Access to Salesforce Using the Simba ODBC Driver

The migration process is designed to minimize disruption to your existing workflows and reporting schedules. Most teams complete the entire transition in under an hour without needing to rebuild queries, restructure databases, or retrain users. Your Access interface stays the same, your Salesforce data remains accessible, and your business processes continue running smoothly.

Restoring your Access-to-Salesforce connection takes just a few steps:

1. Download and install the Salesforce ODBC driver for Access on the same machine running Access. The installation process, as seen in our quick start guide, is straightforward and doesn’t interfere with other Access functionality.
2. Configure your connection settings using the ODBC Data Source Administrator. You’ll create a new DSN (Data Source Name) with your Salesforce credentials and authentication preferences.
3. Update your existing Access queries and linked tables to point to the new Simba driver instead of the retired Microsoft connector. Your existing query logic, filters, and reports remain unchanged.
4. Test your connections to ensure data flows correctly. The Simba driver includes diagnostic tools to help verify that your Salesforce objects appear correctly in Access.

With these steps, you can complete the migration in under an hour. Your queries keep running, your reports don’t break, and your users continue working with familiar Access interfaces.

Ready to learn more? Watch our video on how to make the transition.

The post How to Replace Your Retired Microsoft Access Salesforce Connector appeared first on insightsoftware.