I realize this is a very basic question, but I haven't been able to figure this out from the manual or the help program.

I have a database of 24k records with 40 fields, one of which is a unique ID. I have a list of 100 unique IDs (in another database) and I want to pull out all the fields for those unique IDs and export them. I haven't been able to figure out an easy way to do this. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

thanks

There are a number of ways to do this. One of the simplest would be:

1. Create a relationship from within your 24k x 40 database to the 100ids db which matches the uniqueID field in both files.

2. Place the UniqueID field (sourced via the relationship to the other file) on a layout in your 24k x 40 database.

3. Enter find mode and place a * in the field referred to at 2 above, then execute the find (this should give you a found set of the 100 records which are in both files).

4. Select the 'Export Records' command from the File menu and work through the dialogs of the export procedure (selecting the format, the fields, the order you want them to appear in the resulting export file etc etc)

That should do it. The export records command always exports the found set, so your export file will have the 100 records in it with the fields you selected when exporting.

If the order of the records in the exported file is important, then you might want to include a sort of the 24k x 40 database between steps 3 and 4.

If you aren't going to need to repeat this exercise, you will be able to delete the field and the relationship after you've confirmed that the export file matches your requirements.

worked brilliantly, thank you