Rip,
Yeah, the workaround works fine for text files. I was just looking toward the future when the control might be trying to open something other than a text file, such as a .pdf. And the association for 'txt' does exist on my computer. I can double click on a .txt file in explorer and it bring the file up in notepad no problem. Thanks for the reply.

>I don't know much about the shellexecute call but I think the workaround is a better solution anyway. One reason why ShellExecute may not have been working for you is that .txt files on your machine don't have any associated program. What about the case where a user has a machine that has .txt files associated with a program other than notepad? I'm sure it would be rare but it could happen. I know on my machine .txt files are associated with a text editor called ultraedit. So if you really wanted to pop up notepad the run command is the best way IMO.
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>>Works fine Rip. Still bugs me that ShellExecute won't work but this is a fine workaround. Thanks.
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>>>How about using the run command instead?
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>>>run /N notepad "d:\VFPAPPS\APPDOCS\PROCS.TXT"