n all versions of Access that I am aware of, going back at least to Access 2000, the escape key cancels queries (whether select, update, append, etc.), and recordset operations (running in VBA).

On the surface this may be fine, but there is a major bug in the implementation: Access "listens" for the escape key regardless of whether it has the focus or not.

So for example, if you have a long running append query and then open Excel, Word, Outlook, or even your browser (any software, presumably), and hit the Escape key to cancel an action in that other software, Access will "hear" it, and cancel your update query!

I've been able to reproduce this bug in Windows 7, 8.1, and 10, with Office 2013 and 2016. This has cost me and my clients hours of lost work. New clients now need to be taught to avoid hitting the escape button under any circumstances. It's a bug that needs fixing right away. This is unacceptable, and it's impossible to believe that Microsoft doesn't know this is going on.

Can we get this reported and given high priority?