The IE-based WebBrowser control stopped rendering modern CSS and JavaScript years ago. If your VBA application uses it, you've seen the broken layouts and script errors. LiteView2 is the Chromium-based replacement — same VBA integration pattern, modern rendering engine, hundreds of documented methods.
Works in VBA (Excel, Access, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, Visio, Project), VB6, VB.NET, C#, C++, Delphi, Python, PowerShell, AutoIt — and any COM host.
LiteView2 is a Chromium WebView2 ActiveX control that replaces the legacy IE WebBrowser control in VBA. Your forms, business logic, and data layer stay in VBA unchanged. Only the browser-interaction code path migrates — from MSHTML object model calls to LiteView2's documented WebView2-style API methods. For most apps, that is hours to days of focused work on one code path, not months on the whole application.
30-day commercial trial · No telemetry · Same APIs in trial and production · Works in 32-bit and 64-bit
"For future app development, we recommend using WebView2." — Microsoft, Internet Explorer 11 desktop app retirement FAQ
The old control still loads, and Microsoft still supports it through at least 2029. It renders with the Internet Explorer 11 engine, which many modern websites no longer support, and Access's new Edge Browser Control has no Object property, so code that used the old control's DOM has no direct equivalent.
Microsoft retired the Internet Explorer 11 desktop application on June 15, 2022, on certain versions of Windows 10, and recommends WebView2 for new development. The legacy WebBrowser control is built on the IE engine (MSHTML), which Microsoft still supports through at least 2029. It continues to function, but it renders pages with an engine that is years behind modern HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
Many modern websites and scripts no longer support the IE engine. For developers shipping internal tools and dashboards, this is an increasing problem as the web pages their controls load grow more modern.
LiteView2 is not a drop-in replacement with identical APIs. WebView2 (Chromium) and MSHTML (Internet Explorer) are fundamentally different browser engines with different object models. Here is the honest scope breakdown:
The call patterns are different but the scope is narrow. Here is the same operation in the legacy MSHTML model vs LiteView2:
' Navigate
WebBrowser1.Navigate "https://example.com"
' Read DOM element
Dim doc As Object
Set doc = WebBrowser1.Document
Dim val As String
val = doc.getElementById("user-email").value
' Run JavaScript
WebBrowser1.Document.parentWindow _
.execScript "myFunction()", "JavaScript"
' No JSON engine — parse manually' Navigate
m_lv.Navigate "https://example.com"
' Read DOM element (no Document object needed)
Dim val As String
val = m_lv.GetElementValueById("user-email")
' Run JavaScript
m_lv.ExecuteScript "myFunction()"
' Built-in JSON engine
Dim j As Object
Set j = CreateObject("LiteView2.Json")
Debug.Print j.GetValue(response, "$.user.name")LiteView2 supports two deployment paths so you can match your environment:
liteview2-setup.zip) once per machine (admin required); it installs and registers both the 32-bit and the 64-bit control. Drop the control on any form from the Toolbox. VBA events fire automatically.
Microsoft's Edge Browser Control is an Access control: Microsoft's article applies to Access for Microsoft 365 and Access 2024. It is not available in Excel, Word, Outlook, PowerPoint, VB6 or other hosts. LiteView2 works in all of those. See the full feature comparison.
Rewriting an Access app with tens of thousands of lines of VBA in .NET WinForms is a 6–18 month project. Electron means redistributing a 200MB runtime per install. LiteView2 keeps your entire app in VBA — only the browser-interaction code path migrates from the MSHTML object model to WebView2-style APIs. For most existing apps, that is hours to days of focused work on one code path, not months on the whole application.
.NET-native Chromium bindings are excellent inside .NET — they have no VBA or ActiveX story. Community OCX wrappers are valuable but typically labeled beta by their own authors and ship without commercial support. LiteView2 is commercially supported software: bug reports are triaged, and licensing is clear for enterprise deployment.
Microsoft doesn't call it deprecated. It still supports the MSHTML engine and the WebBrowser control through at least 2029, and for future app development it recommends WebView2. The control uses the Internet Explorer 11 engine, so many modern pages and scripts do not work in it.
Modern HTML5 pages work better with LiteView2 than with the legacy IE engine — LiteView2 uses Chromium (the same engine as Google Chrome) which supports current HTML, CSS, and JavaScript standards. Pages that relied on IE-only behaviours (ActiveX plugin objects, conditional comments, VBScript in the page) will need updating, but those are already broken in modern browsers.
Yes. LiteView2 ships both LiteView2_x86.ocx (for 32-bit Office) and LiteView2_x64.ocx (for 64-bit Office). In Reg-Free Mode the bootstrap module auto-selects the correct file using the #If Win64 Then conditional. Both files are included in the trial download.
Windows 11 includes the WebView2 Runtime, and Microsoft has installed it on all eligible Windows 10 devices. Microsoft 365 Apps (Version 2101 or later) also installs it on Windows. On older systems without the runtime, LiteView2 displays a one-time prompt to install it. The runtime install takes under 30 seconds and does not require admin rights on most configurations.
Yes. The 30-day trial includes the full documented API surface — every method and event — the JSON engine, both registered and reg-free modes, and commercial use. No feature is locked during the trial. Download the trial and follow the 5-minute quickstart.
Your forms, business logic, and data layer stay in VBA. Only the browser-interaction code path migrates. Free 30-day trial, full functionality.
Download free 30-day trialSee also: LiteView2 vs Edge Browser Control · WebView2 ActiveX for VBA · Deploy without admin rights · Reg-Free Mode deep dive
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