I have 2 tables and want to make a summary layout.

One table is a list of character symbols and their expanded names.

FRED -> Fred Barnes

BLUE -> BlueBird

LAKE -> LakePark

The Second Table is a list of reported sightings.

Fred saw a BlueBird at LakePark 3 times

FRED BLUE LAKE 3

I want to make a summary layout. I don't care about FRED, just the bluebird's total number of sightings. So the result is found by looking through the 2nd table, adding up all of the times any BLUE was sighted, and SUM() into a field in a new Layout.

Q. When I add a new field to a layout, the field has to represent a field in a Table, yes? So I define a 3rd table, that is related to the first two, and add a SUMMARY COUNT field, yes?

If that is true, how do I get new records in the 3rd table? There would be a record for each sighted Bird.

I think I am close, but still new to this.

thanks in advance

-Brian

the reason I didn't add a field to the list of sightings table is that the list of sightings table is machine generated, one per month. By not touching the sightings table, I leave it exactly as it is imported.

That's a habit I learned from programming in general. I assume it applies here.