Access SQL problem

[Petrol]

Can anyone tell me if there is any simple way in Access SQL of deleting all records in tblA that are specified by having a matching record in tblB?
In other words, I want something like

 DELETE tblA.* FROM tblA WHERE tblA.[fieldname] = tblB.[fieldname]

- except that that doesn't comply with the syntax for a DELETE statement.

I tried the obvious method - creating a SELECT query by putting the two tables on the design canvas, linking them by the shared field name and putting tblA.* as the only column in the design grid (this then displays the wanted records) and then converting it to a DELETE query - but the SQL that Access generates also doesn't comply with the syntax and doesn't work.
It sounds like a simple enough task - but I can't figure it out. Surely it must be possible?

[NeoPa]

Try :

DELETE [tblA].*
FROM [tblA]
     INNER JOIN
     [tblB]
  ON [tblA].[fieldname] = [tblB].[fieldname]

[Petrol]

Yes, I had tried that, thanks NeoPa.
For some reason it gives an unnumbered message "Specify the table containing the records you want to delete" - although the table clearly was specified.

DELETE Applicant_Transient_info.*
FROM Applicant_Transient_info INNER JOIN temptbl_ObserversThisWalk 
   ON Applicant_Transient_info.PersonID = temptbl_ObserversThisWalk.PersonID;

[Petrol]

I actually want to delete corresponding records from another table, too. I tried the same SQL with this second table and got a different message - also unnumbered -"Could not delete from specified tables".

DELETE Walk_participation_history.*
FROM  Walk_participation_history INNER JOIN temptbl_ObserversThisWalk
     ON Walk_participation_history.PersonID = temptbl_ObserversThisWalk.PersonID;

(What looks like a P at the end is actually a semicolon in the SQL).

[Petrol]

Sorry, no, it was just that the SQL was truncated by the post).

[NeoPa]

Unfortunately, my version of Access (2019) has no information on that subject I was able to find :-(

Older versions certainly included information on the DELETE clause, but 2019 seems to have mislaid it while trying to rewrite it for some reason.

I'll do some simple Googling if I can and possibly some tests if I can. I suspect the problem is unrelated to this syntax as I remember doing this successfully before, but it's a very rare need so finding my own examples hasn't been straightforward .

[NeoPa]

Perhaps instead try :

DELETE [tblA]
FROM   [tblA]
       INNER JOIN
       [tblB]
  ON   [tblA].[fieldname] = [tblB].[fieldname]

This is the same as before except that it leaves out the .* part.

[Petrol]

Thanks, NeoPa, but please don't waste any more of your valuable time on it. I have been struggling with this one for about 2 weeks now and I think I have tried pretty well every possibility.
However, I have thought of another way around the problem. Fortunately, when anyone enters the system I know if they will be a temporary participant. So I will change the design of the various tables to include a "temporary" flag, and when a "temporary" participant enters the system the queries that create the relevant records can set those flags. Then to delete them all I should need to do is simple DELETE queries with only table in each.

[NeoPa]

OK well, at least you have a way past your problem for now :-)