Newbie question about deleting reocrds in table

[kayak99]

New to Access.

From a data disk I have downloaded into an Access table 78,000 records with headings as needed. I need to eliminate useless columns, sort them by political party, delete those records I do not need, then form a mailing list of the remainder. (There will still be a few more individual records I do not need.)

There are about 50 column fields but I only need 11 of them.

In a table, how do I delete the rows (partys)I do not need (about 38,000 of them.) along with the columns of information now wanted or am I in incorrect form?

I ask this because the delete record symbol on the toolbar is not available when I highlight a row.

Thanks

 

[fneily]

A few steps.
You could create a "make table" query which would have the 11 columns you want. Go to query design and select your table. Place the 11 fields you need into the query grid. Run it to make sure you have all the needed fields. Return to design view and then click the down arrow next to the Query Type button and select Make Table. Name the table, the rerun the query. Answer Ok to the message box. After it runs, close the query and go to the Table object pane. You will now have a table with just the 11 fields you want.
In this new table, is there any criteria common to the rows you want to delete? If yes, then you can run a Delete query. Or, open your table and click on the little square NEXT to the row you want to delete. This is how you highlight a row. Then click the red X delete button. I don't know what you're doing in your deletion steps.
Sorting - if it's a single field, use the sort buttons. If multiple fields then click Records - Filter - Advanced Sort and set up your field order in the grid.
If you still have questions, post back and be more specific - we can not see your fields names.