Dave, you're right. I left out part of the command and the whole meaning changed. I realized this at about 1:00 am, but couldn't connect in to update my message until this afternoon. Lets try it again:

Close Data All
use mytable
set order to tag ID

will work. However,

use firsttable
use mytable IN 0 && new select area
set order to tag ID && where ID is the tag for MyTable

will NOT open the index in MyTable because you are still in the FirstTable area. Add a SELECT MYTABLE to the code or load the index when you USE the table.

Barbara Paltiel