>Running from local PC.
>Tried Tore's method, ie set deleted off. The result was instantaneous.
>Now trying with an index on deleted but I recall long time back, this index on deleted created some issues... such that we took out the index.
>Yau

Whether an index on deleted() will speed up or slow down the search, depends on the number of deleted records in relation to the total number of records, AFAIK. This means that you have to try it out with realistic data. However, most of the discussions about the pros and cons of using an index on deleted(), is about a normal index, not the new binary index. The binary index was introduced in VFP9, and it is much smaller than a normal index, and thus much faster to read. So it makes the previous discussion more or less irrelevant. I suggest that you simply add a binary index on deleted(), and let that be it.

Index on deleted() tag deleted binary