Hi James, The database is quite large in file size, like around 22mb. That's why I went into detail about it's layout and fields. I'll repost the info here: *** The current data base I have contains no fields for inventory totals at the moment. In fact, when I started it I had never done a data base. But now, with nearly 6,200 entries already added and atleast 3000-5000 more to add it seems a shame not to adapt this one if possible. At present it is a single table db. The fields are, and typical entries might look like this: Disc / Catalog # / Color-Size# / Color-Description / Size / Product Description / QtyPerPkg / Price blank/ 8035 / blank / Sapphire / 6 yd x 4 inch / Cord-Paper Twist-Metallic/ 1 / 2.99 blank/ A 1224 / R03 / Brown hair / 11 1/2 inch / Doll-Full-long hair / 1 / 3.25 x / B 051289 / C50 / Green / 28mm-2 1/2 hole / Bead-Wooden / 50 / 11.99 There are no primary keys set because while there will always be a cat# there will not always be a color #, but if there is a color# then the cat# will be the same. The first column is simply to tell us that the item has been discontinued, can't order any more of them. I want to be able to look at a given item and see how many are on hand. I am assuming this would mean that I need to invoice a customer from Access to accurately reduce inventory totals, which is fine with me because that means I don't have to duplicate my work. And I would have to increase my inventory totals when a shipment comes in from any of various suppliers. The business is a mail order craft supply. Ideally, I would like to include fields/table for who we purchase a given item from, to simplify reordering. *** It was suggested that I consider combining the cat# and color# into one field to be able to have a primary key, and we are giving that consideration. We may not be able to because the suppliers appear to refer to the items by the main number rather than by both. Pam > > > Hello Pam, Welcome Back Peter, and wow, we suddenly have a > growing number of > Access people in this group. > > I will be happy to toss my two cents in where I can in this > thread as well. > One thing to look at is not re-inventing the wheel. Have you checked out > the Inventory Template DB? I have found that using the Template DBs can > help you out with learning some concepts and see how others have done > something similar to what you are doing. > > From what I understand of your db so far, you have a table > listing the items > you have but no primary key for it. You will want to come up > with a way to > identify these items uniquely so that you can assign a primary key. Since > you have aa catalog # and sometimes a color# have you considered > consolidating these with a hyphen or slash? > > I am sure you are getting advice from others that you will want > to add some > kind of transaction table. You will need to decide what fields > you want in > it. If possible, could you email me a copy of the database at > James@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and I can take a look and see what you have so > far. > > James La Borde > South Western Federal Credit Union > ************************************************************* You are receiving this mail because you subscribed to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or MicrosoftOffice@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To send mail to the group, simply address it to mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx To Unsubscribe from this group, send an email to mso-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?Subject=unsubscribe Or, visit the group's homepage and use the dropdown menu. This will also allow you to change your email settings to digest or vacation (no mail). //www.freelists.org/webpage/mso To be able to use the files section for sharing files with the group, send a request to mso-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx and you will be sent an invitation with instructions. Once you are a member of the files group, you can go here to upload/download files: http://www.smartgroups.com/vault/msofiles *************************************************************