Is there possibly a semi-colon in a preceding line that would cause the compiler to "think" that the append is part of another command string? I have at occasions had a similar problem where the compiler was complaining about some code. My solution was to copy the method to a temp location (I use NotePad++), then remove all the code in the method and leave a single asterisk. Then save and close the form/class. Now reopen and repaste into the method the original code. It then saved without compiler complaints...