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  1. #1
    RMittelman is offline Advanced
    Windows 10 Access 2016
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    Non-Updatable Query Problem

    I have a database to handle donations to a non-profit. There's a table for Thank-You letters. Here is an abbreviated field list:

    DonationID (Long)
    Name (Short Text)
    Address (Short Text)
    Amount (Currency)
    NonCashItems (Long Text)
    Paragraph1 (Long Text)
    Paragraph2 (Long Text)

    Currently, I clear the table, then fill it with everything except Paragraph1 and Paragraph2 using an append query. This is working fine.

    The problem occurs when I try to fill paragraphs 1 & 2 using an update query, getting the data from another table. I want to do this in 2 passes (first append then update) because getting the paragraph data is complex, depending on the type of Thank-You letter.



    When I run an update query to fill in the last 2 fields, it gives me an error about not being an updatable query. This happens whether I use a left-join query to get my paragraph data or use a (sub-query) in the "Update To" cell to get my data.

    If, for testing purposes, I simply update the 2 fields to "Test1" and "Test2", it works just fine.

    Why can I do the append query and it works fine, but when I do the update query I get the updatable query error?

    Thanks...

  2. #2
    June7's Avatar
    June7 is offline VIP
    Windows 10 Access 2010 32bit
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    What are you updating from? A query? Is that query editable - can you edit data in that query? If not, this will not allow an UPDATE action.

    Also, if you aren't already aware of this bug, review https://support.office.com/en-us/art...3-f21636caedec
    How to attach file: http://www.accessforums.net/showthread.php?t=70301 To provide db: copy, remove confidential data, run compact & repair, zip w/Windows Compression.

  3. #3
    isladogs's Avatar
    isladogs is offline MVP / VIP
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    There are many reasons why queries may be non updateable
    For a fairly comprehensive list of reasons, see http://allenbrowne.com/ser-61.html
    Colin, Access MVP, Website, email
    The more I learn, the more I know I don't know. When I don't know, I keep quiet!
    If I don't know that I don't know, I don't know whether to answer

  4. #4
    RMittelman is offline Advanced
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    Quote Originally Posted by June7 View Post
    What are you updating from? A query? Is that query editable - can you edit data in that query? If not, this will not allow an UPDATE action.

    Also, if you aren't already aware of this bug, review https://support.office.com/en-us/art...3-f21636caedec
    The query contains a table and another query which is linked to the table via a key field. I'm trying to update a field in the table to a value from the query. Again, if I update the table field with a constant expression such as "Test", it works fine, so I don't understand why the query/table is non-updatable when I use a join to a query value as the update value. Thanks for the reply...

  5. #5
    RMittelman is offline Advanced
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    Quote Originally Posted by isladogs View Post
    There are many reasons why queries may be non updateable
    For a fairly comprehensive list of reasons, see http://allenbrowne.com/ser-61.html
    Thanks for supplying the list of reasons why query may be non-updatable. Not sure which one applies. The fact that without removing the join from the table to the query, if I simply hard-code a constant as the "update to" value it then works, is confusing. But I've found another way to update my table than an update query, so I guess it's moot now. Thanks again for the reply...

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