last fall there was a thread here about using SELECT MAX(id) to retrieve the key of a record just inserted my contribution to that thread was http://lists.evolt.org/archive/Week-of-Mon-20010910/057315.html ... at the end of which i whimsically mused about some day expanding on alternate methods for retrieving the last row inserted i've written some more about this here (watch for wrap) -- http://searchdatabase.techtarget.com/ateQuestionNResponse/0,289625,sid13_ci d464176_tax285649,00.html rudy