OK....found it.

The main form had the desktop property set to .T. (true). According to the help file, this confines the form to within the FoxPro main window...well, hey, I haven't got any problem with that, that is why I set the property in the first place. However, then for some reason, any other forms launched from the main form are always "underneath" unless they also have the desktop property set to .T.

Of interest (to me....now that I've lost half a day trying to figure this out...) is that if the sub form's desktop property is not set to true, and you minimize the FoxPro window, the subform still doesn't appear outside of the FoxPro window. Maybe that means that if any one of the displayed forms have desktop=.T. any active forms stay within the FoxPro window.

Enough already,

I wonder if it is hopeless for one person to ever to master all this stuff. :-)

--- Larry