Ok, so I thought I knew searching well enough. Say I go into find mode on a layout. I want to find all records that are under the age of 18 that also have information (non-blank value) in another field.

I type in (field names in parenthesis):

(File Number) =

(Age): >17

Click -> Omit Record

Click -> Find

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I get 2745 records with that search. When I search for JUST file numbers that aren't blank, I only get around 1000. Therefore I must be getting the blank file numbers plus EVERYONE who is >17 years. I had always assumed that if you enter in multiple fields on the same request it acts like an 'AND'. i.e. find all records that have a blank value in the file number field AND the age is over 17.

Age is a calculated field, and it's not a problem with the field because I can do a find on just that field of >17 -> Omit and it works absolutely fine. File number is a number field, searching just on this field works fine, as well.

Someone please help, this is making no sense to me. My search (eventually a script) will be much more complex than this, but if I can't even get THIS correct, there is no point going forward.

You need to do this in the following order:

Enter Find mode

In Age type >17

New request

In File Number type =

Click Omit

Click Find

The Omit acts like an AND even though the New Request is normally an OR.

Thanks Ralph, that's very strange/exponentially frustrating. I didn't notice anything about that in the User's Guide.

Or use a single request with

Age: <18

FileNumber: *

In your original request, you are omitting records where both criteria is true, but not only one or the other. Records whose age is > 17 and FileNumber is not blank will be returned, as will records whose age is <= 17 and FileNumber is blank.