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Asked: 2026-05-10T16:17:11+00:00

On some Microsoft Access queries, I get the following message: Operation must use an

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On some Microsoft Access queries, I get the following message: Operation must use an updatable query. (Error 3073). I work around it by using temporary tables, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way. All the tables involved have a primary key. Here’s the code:

UPDATE CLOG SET CLOG.NEXTDUE = (     SELECT H1.paidthru      FROM CTRHIST as H1     WHERE H1.ACCT = clog.ACCT AND     H1.SEQNO = (         SELECT MAX(SEQNO)          FROM CTRHIST          WHERE CTRHIST.ACCT = Clog.ACCT AND          CTRHIST.AMTPAID > 0 AND         CTRHIST.DATEPAID < CLOG.UPDATED_ON     ) ) WHERE CLOG.NEXTDUE IS NULL;
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  1. Since Jet 4, all queries that have a join to a SQL statement that summarizes data will be non-updatable. You aren’t using a JOIN, but the WHERE clause is exactly equivalent to a join, and thus, the Jet query optimizer treats it the same way it treats a join.

    I’m afraid you’re out of luck without a temp table, though maybe somebody with greater Jet SQL knowledge than I can come up with a workaround.

    BTW, it might have been updatable in Jet 3.5 (Access 97), as a whole lot of queries were updatable then that became non-updatable when upgraded to Jet 4.

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