Yes, the problem did not occur on my my machine (XP) while it did occur an an NT.

Not sure about your suggestion to alter the file before USEing it. How can I alter columns if the file isn't open?

>Jim-
>
>>I'm getting the error message "File '58070939.dbf' does not exist." on the ALTER TABLE statement below; I don't understand how a file created by "COPY TO" could not exist, especially after I have USE'd it. (When the error occurs, the file is open in the current work area).
>
>I can't duplicate the problem. You mention your user is on NT, does this mean you don't see the problem on XP but the user does on NT? Anyway, just a WAG, you might try not using the table before altering the columns. I was sorta surprised it even works to use it first since AFAIK, ALTER TABLE works on the disk file.