The table is not part of a DBC. The app does not use the DBC. It, the app, is used by about 100 customers and this problem has occured on about 3 or 4 installations. There are two tables that have fields named recnum , and index tags named xrec, and the problem has occured on both tables. On at least 1 occasion I have been able to open the table, verify the index does exist, and then type ( in a command window substitute) 'set order to tag xrec' and get the same error. However, if I type 'Set order to 4' there is no error. I changed the name of the tag from recnum to xrec and still the problem occurs. This is a simple app. Tables are generally not used with alias names. As I said I am not using the DBC. The only thing differert between this app and any number of others I have written is that I am using the scatter name option to populate text fields.