Dear CarlWhen I command SE chapter.* |search|helpkey I get not message box. The routine simply halts with the (I think) second file from the filemask open and the cursor at the top of this file and 'Done' on the status line. There is some activity before this which I cannot identify. When I command SE chapter,* |search|message 'cannot find item' The hardware is a desktop, by the way, running Windows 2000 SP4. I can give you a rundown of the hardware if you think that useful. Best wishes Paul Carl Distefano wrote:Reply to note from Paul BreezeSun, 15 Mar 2009 13:54:07 +0000 One other question: If you issue that as a native command, SE chapter.* |search|If I command SE chapter.* |search| I get no message box, it just halts at the top of the second file (I believe), having found nothing in the first even though there were instances in the all chapters. do you still get the same error message?