>ys(3), and _work is usually "C:\scratch\". By using a separate .cdx file, we do >n't try to create a structural index, and it doesn't have to touch the 29th ( or >was it 28th) byte of the table header. > >Dragan, this still indexes the original file, which means it has to be used E xc >lusive. By using it as a cursor with NOFILTER (or, in VFP3 with an additional f >ield) means it's already used Excl. and is on your hard disk - much easier to i >ndex. This works for both read-only cursors and shared tables: indexing into anything else except .cdx-with-the-same-name-as-table doesn't touch the table at all. I've just opened a table in two instances of VFP, indexed it to two different .cdx files - the only trick was to Open Data Whatever SHARED. I really don't know where it defaulted to exclusive in my case (will have to check my config.fpw), but as soon as I opened both the database and the table shared, it indexed anyway you like - just as long as I've added a "to [filename]" clause. And guess what - LUpdated() consistently returned Jan 19th - which means it didn't touch the table at all, just read it and built an independent index file. Just try it.