>If I opened form2 from form1 shouldn't I be able to refer to form2 properties by saying form2.property??

The way it works is the same way a variable works. DO FORM form2 creates a variable called Form2 to reference the actual form with. That variable can go out of scope like any other variable, so if you didn't define it before hand, its most likely private and went away with the method that called it. You can use the NAME clause to specify where the form reference will be saved (a property or variable, ect.).