>>>>But I can't figure out what count(ID) is doing, how to return the number of rows per ID, or how to limit my results
>>>>to the rows that have the longest names?
>>
>>Use a shortened copy of the field cast into a char(200) or varchar as the group by and then join the result with the original. Can't remember a better workaround. Assume that all the names you have are such that if characters beyond 200 are different it doesn't mean it's a different person.
>
>Sometimes, the first 200 characters won't be enough to differentiate a newly updated memo from one recently edited. This solution seems to work, although since I had never used scan, I am sure I did it correctly? And if there is a way to do this with SQL, I would be very happy to know of it.
>
>

>alter table toTable add column note1 memo 
>&& make sure this field does not already exist, using a procedure for this purpose.
>USE fromTable IN 0  
>SELECT fromTable
>INDEX on thisID UNIQUE TO indexID  && the key field
>SELECT fromTable &&  the memo field is in this table
>SCAN
>	findThisID = thisID
>	SELECT toTable  && insert the memo field in this table
>	IF SEEK(findThisID)
>		REPLACE note1 WITH fromTable.note1  
>                && all other rows/fields are unique as a result of using a select distianct * ... into table toTable
>                && but the memo field is missing.  So, find the key field and its memo in the fromTable
>                && then insert the memo into the toTable.
>	endif
>ENDSCAN
>

You could do

replace note1 with fromTable.note1 for seek(thisId, "fromTable")

or some kind of update statement, which I'm not sure I can write correctly from the top of my head, something like

update toTable set note1=fromTable.note1 from fromTable where toTable.thisId = fromTable.thisId

(probably won't work but that's what I'd start with).