How to Send SMS Text Messages from Microsoft Access

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

- SMS is generally not free. So you need to buy into a provider and get a phone number - I used Twilio www.twilio.com - Make an account on Twilio, log in, go through three steps including getting a phone number - Go to Messaging > Try it out > Send an SMS > Try sending to yourself > note accounts, passwords, and data fields - Upgrade your account if necessary. Minimum is low, only $20 - Use the data fields etc. that you collected in order to use MS Access like you see here - My Skype number can accept text messages. I also tested this on my phone with great results. - Long Codes (10 digit numbers) can send a few hundred messages per day before being capped - Short Codes (5 or 6 digit numbers) can do bulk SMS messaging with fewer restrictions What kind of project are you guys using SMS messaging for?

[@FunTv456]

will it works in Bangladesh? bro

[@kyopan23]

Amazing video. I will try to implement this in my project. I have a table of numbers, i want to send a single sms to all the numbers in my table that meet certain criterias "active". Hopefully I get no error

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

Cool project!

[@miles6875]

Could definitely see the practical use case for this, thank you

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

You bet!

[@jj1976jj1976]

Thank you, Sean. It works great! I have many non-profit clients that can use this code.

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

Hey that's great! Glad to help. Sooo handy for alerts, and it does not get lost in the email zoo.

[@Khabat.Hawrami]

Great Idea in a video. Thank you.

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@omegacodedeveloper3592]

Good video sir, Is it possible to send bulk messages that are customizable to each receiver like Mail Merge?

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

You could easily just make a table with a few hundred custom messages and loop through the table, sending an SMS on each pass. This apparently will work for "long code" ie 10 digit numbers. Apparently only "short code" numbers are pre-approved for mass texting (those short 5 or 6 numbers you receive messages from sometimes). To loop through a recordset: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bXnGnIygfcSqnZY Personally, I would pause on each send, maybe for a few seconds: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKPGoHRmZ6-Wra8 Also, as the loop progresses, pass control back to Windows so your system doesn't show "Not responding": kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIG3XpJ-Zs6lbM0

[@garycurtis]

This is amazing, just what I needed. Question, can Access receive messages? Also when I send text messages using special Spanish characters, it uses double segments, do you know how I can get around that?

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

I'm glad it worked! It looks like Twilio can receive messages for your Twilio phone number, and you can configure it to do a http POST to a service you can write, each time a message comes in. Great topic for another video. I didn't try with special characters, but if you use any special characters beyond GSM-7, your limit is 70 for each segment, not 160 as it is with GSM-7 (basic) characters.

[@garycurtis]

@@seanmackenziedataengineering okay awesome, I appreciate it.

[@kyopan23]

@@seanmackenziedataengineering are you considering making a video about this? Incoming Twilio text messages to access? Great content!

[@norbertfoigelman8640]

Hi Sean, I ama getting the following error "Failed with error# 410 Gone" any idea? thanks Norbert

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

It indicates that the http target was there but is no longer. It could be a syntax error or something, or your Twilio account expired or something. Bit of a mystery!

[@oxpertecautomations2858]

Hello, I need this solution for school but the messages should be triggered by biometric devices

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

Those devices must leave records somewhere. Find out where. Then, you can either create a trigger (active solution) or a polling procedure (passive) in MS Access that checks for records. Then, send messages at will!

[@oxpertecautomations2858]

@@seanmackenziedataengineering it's a complete attendance with MS Access dB, kindly share your email address so that you can create for me a simple solution for this at a cost

[@tarikfuadfuad-jt8nt]

Please explain how to copy the link from the twilio website and do the programming. I tried that but I could not

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

On your default page in Twilio you'll see Account SID. Copy it and paste it into the link I describe at 4:40 in this video. That is the link you use. Between the slashes like Account/youraccountsid/

[@dbspecialistrobins7533]

Do you know if MS Access can send faxes using VBA?

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

Good question.. probably the best method would be to use an email-to-fax service, though you could research DoCmd.SendObject too!

[@dbspecialistrobins7533]

Thank you 😊

[@seanmackenziedataengineering]

In case you guys want to see one of my projects where I use this technique, check it out: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mqmqm4CXbs2dl7s