As my daughter says to me on various occasions - Chill!! This thread will go on for ever because all of you are right and will make sure that you prove what you feel is best for you. This list has been incredibly helpful to me over the years but all these competitive posts just fill the mailbox. Access is a database and Excel is a spreadsheet - they both do similar and different things. People make them do different similar and even the same things it is as simple as that! Without wishing to sound too rude I suggest that we all revert back to answering the questions the list works better that way. Regards Ian Elliott -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Linda F. Johnson Sent: 09 June 2004 02:23 To: mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [mso] Re: Database or Spreadsheet :VSMail mx3 I know how to use the Expression Builder, James....but that still requires that I know the MATH...I need to know what needs to be multiplied by what, etc....with Excel, I do NOT need to know that...I just plug in the numbers in the Insert Function box....where it says "Initial value" I put in the amount I need to pay back, where it says "Interest Rate" I plug that in. I don't have to know "well, I need to multiply this by this, then take a percentage of this"...I just plug in the numbers the car dealer gives me and Excel does the rest. All I'm saying is, Excel is MADE for mathematical equations....Access is MADE for databases and relationships....if I want to calculate what my car payments will be, I'll use Excel....if I own a car dealership and want a report of all of the payment amounts of everyone who ever bought a car from me, based on their credit rating and where they live in the country, I'd use Access. Building a database every time you need to do some mathematical calculations and reports would be SERIOUS overkill, in my opinion. No? Anyway...I'm heading out the door now to teach a class....hope you all enjoy the rest of this discussion....just keep it friendly :-) Linda Linda's Computer Stop http://personal-computer-tutor.com ABC Free Ezine ~ Free Ebooks and Tutorials *all outgoing mail scanned by Norton AV. If you got a bug that looks like it came from me, it did NOT! -----Original Message----- From: mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:mso-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of James LaBorde Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2004 4:37 PM To: 'mso@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' Subject: [mso] Re: Database or Spreadsheet :VSMail mx3 Linda, You can use the expression builder. It contains the same prompts as your wizard. The only thing you do is enter field names (or values) instead of cell references. While you need to do a little to get to it, (not a lot) it isn't much different than the Excel wizard. One of the best things is, I can add a column to my query window without affecting my formula. Depending on whether or not you use absolute references in Excel, adding a column or row, could cause problems. 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