Hi Bill,

so back to basics.

IMHO, this is not the idea of using menus.

but if you realy need

*create the menu
  DO ssofficemen.mpr 
*activate the popup AND SUSPEND PROGRAM WHILE MENU IS ACTIVE
  ACTIVATE POPUP TRANSACTIO
*so here, no eventloop is active. you might clear events as long as you like
*just to show you program suspension 
?'now this line'

*start eventloop after 
  READ EVENTS

it would need something like

*mpr
SET SYSMENU TO
SET SYSMENU AUTOMATIC

DEFINE PAD _4l90uaf70 OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "File" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
	KEY ALT+F, ""
DEFINE PAD _4l90uaf71 OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "Transaction" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
	KEY ALT+T, ""
DEFINE PAD _4l90uaf72 OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "Maintain" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
	KEY ALT+M, ""
DEFINE PAD _4l90uaf73 OF _MSYSMENU PROMPT "Print" COLOR SCHEME 3 ;
	KEY ALT+P, ""
ON PAD _4l90uaf70 OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP file
ON PAD _4l90uaf71 OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP transactio
ON PAD _4l90uaf73 OF _MSYSMENU ACTIVATE POPUP print

DEFINE POPUP file MARGIN RELATIVE SHADOW COLOR SCHEME 4
DEFINE BAR 1 OF file PROMPT "Exit"
ON SELECTION BAR 1 OF file ;
	DO _4l90uaf74 ;
	IN LOCFILE("SSOFFICE\SSOFFICEMEN" ,"MPX;MPR|FXP;PRG" ,"WHERE is SSOFFICEMEN?")

DEFINE POPUP transactio MARGIN RELATIVE SHADOW COLOR SCHEME 4
DEFINE BAR 1 OF transactio PROMPT "Generate Bills"
ON SELECTION BAR 1 OF transactio ;
	DO _4l90uaf75 ;
	IN LOCFILE("SSOFFICE\SSOFFICEMEN" ,"MPX;MPR|FXP;PRG" ,"WHERE is SSOFFICEMEN?")

DEFINE POPUP print MARGIN RELATIVE SHADOW COLOR SCHEME 4
DEFINE BAR 1 OF print PROMPT "Print Bills"
DEFINE BAR 2 OF print PROMPT "View Invoce"
ON SELECTION BAR 1 OF print ;
	DO _4l90uaf76 ;
	IN LOCFILE("SSOFFICE\SSOFFICEMEN" ,"MPX;MPR|FXP;PRG" ,"WHERE is SSOFFICEMEN?")
ON SELECTION BAR 2 OF print ;
	DO _4l90uaf77 ;
	IN LOCFILE("SSOFFICE\SSOFFICEMEN" ,"MPX;MPR|FXP;PRG" ,"WHERE is SSOFFICEMEN?")


PROCEDURE _4l90uaf74
ln_mencol = 1
ln_menrow = 1
llEventLoop = .F.
CLEAR EVENTS

PROCEDURE _4l90uaf75
ln_mencol = 2
ln_menrow = 1
llEventLoop = .F.
CLEAR EVENTS

PROCEDURE _4l90uaf76
ln_mencol = 4
ln_menrow = 1
llEventLoop = .F.
CLEAR EVENTS

PROCEDURE _4l90uaf77
ln_mencol = 4
ln_menrow = 2
llEventLoop = .F.
CLEAR EVENTS

and your code like

 DO ssofficemen.mpr

PUBLIC llNoEventLoop
llEventLoop = .T.
  ACTIVATE POPUP TRANSACTIO
 if llEventLoop THEN
*menu bar not clicked, proceed
  RELEASE llNoEventLoop
  READ EVENTS
 ELSE
*menu bar clicked, do nothing
  RELEASE llNoEventLoop
 ENDIF

In genereal CLEAR EVENTS works only if the program stays somewhere else in READ EVENTS.

HTH

Lutz