Jeff

BOB --- YOU ROCK !!! IT WORKED PERFECTLY!!! Thanks! Jeff

oh yea, clear as mud is right Actually you explained it very well. I think i understand....i'll give it a shot, probably once i start playing around it will make more sense. Thanks Again!

Thanks Bob, I just want to make sure i understand what your saying. Does this formula go into the new database where the actual letterbody field would be? or in the main database?

I'm trying to figure out how to create multiple form letters. For instance somebody who isn't very computer / filemaker savy wants to create mulitple form letters, without having to create a new layout for each different letter in my main database. I don't really want them creating a ton of layouts everytime they want to create and save a different letter for a mail merge. A relationship would help here somehow. I have a main database that has all the contacts. In a seperate database could i create a field that they can type the letter in and have merge fields for the contact info from the main db? But i'm not sure how to make that work either. Or do they have to create a new layout? Hopefully this is clear

Thanks for the info Bob. Your right, there is no reason to print portals, i went back to the original data file and setup a summary report to get the effect i needed. There's always sliding/printing objects to get a similar effect, but isn't as affective. -jeff

I failed to mention this is more for printing than anything (i know about the vertical scrollbar). Since i have to specify a fixed number of rows, some records won't have that many and some will have more. Jeff

Is it possible to setup a portal to display the relating records so that the portal field will automatically expand or contract to how many records it displays? Or is there another type of field/solution i should use? Hopefully i explained this right