i have 2 tables in my access DB, customer and contracts and they are related through the customerid, this is the script i use normally SELECT Customer.CustomerName FROM Customer INNER JOIN Contracts ON Customer.CustID = Contracts.CustomerID; and it works fine and this is how its represented in the design view ![Normal Table][1] i changed my query to SELECT Customer.CustomerName FROM Customer INNER JOIN (select * from Contracts) derivedtable ON Customer.CustID = derivedtable.CustomerID; similar to yours and it gave me same results and this is how its represented in the design view ![design view derived table][2] i hope it clarifies [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/klyMW.png [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/QdpSt.png