Qfyilyi

Minimal Repro: (Access 2016)

1. Create a new, blank database.


2. Create a new, blank form with a single, large text box.


3. Set its "Text Format" property to "Rich Text".


4. Save and open the form in "Form view".


5. Enter a lot of text.


6. Hit Ctrl-Z to undo, because you made a typo in the last word.


7. Oops, all of your text is gone.

Expected behavior: Hit Ctrl-Y or the "Redo" button in the tool bar to "undo the undo operation" and get your text back.

Actual behavior: Ctrl-Y does nothing, and the "Redo" button in the tool bar is grayed out.

Note: This only happens when the text format is "Rich Text". With "Plain Text" text boxes, Ctrl-Y still does nothing, but at least the "Redo" button is available (unless you hit Ctrl-Z twice, but that is an annoyance for another question).

Question: Is it possible to activate "Redo" for Rich Text text boxes?

Background: We are the developers of an MS-Access-based software product (hence I asked my question here instead of SuperUser), and our customers are (rightly) used to Ctrl-Z being a revertible operation. If there is no built-in support for this feature in Access, ideas for VBA-based workarounds are welcome as well.

I don't think it's possible to activate Redo. However, you can implement it yourself using a bit of VBA (by listening to the Ctrl + Z key combination, if it occurs, store the text, if Ctrl + Y occurs, then revert the text to the last Ctrl + Z)

Dim lastUndo As String

Private Sub MyRichTextbox_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)

    If KeyCode = vbKeyZ And Shift And acCtrlMask = acCtrlMask Then

        lastUndo = MyRichTextbox.Text

    ElseIf KeyCode = vbKeyY And Shift And acCtrlMask = acCtrlMask Then

        Dim t As String

        t = MyRichTextbox.Text 'Allow for toggling undo

        MyRichTextbox.Text = lastUndo

        lastUndo = t

    End If

End Sub

You can, of course, move this logic to a separate class, and then apply it to all rich text controls on a form on form load (or all that have a specific tag). That would make it easier to manage this for a project.