Is there anyway one can code a given file or files to always open in a specific mode (expanded, in this case)? One can, of course, set the default mode from the CoMmandLine before calling the file, or call the file and then quickly hit Ctrl-F8. But I often forget to do the first or want other files to display in draft mode. And some of the dBase program files that I'm writing in XyWrite (one of these days I will write up this technique for getting the best of both worlds) have ColumnTable code in them that XyW protests if the file isn't in Expanded Mode. Patricia