excellent, exactly what I needed!

thanks noeld!

Thanks but that won't do it...

this is another way to describe my scenario:

file table

category table

File Category Relationship table:

Join for searching will produce:

if I search for the...

Excellent thanks Jonathan!

Your suggestion too is just what I wanted!

Thanks Phill,

Tried this exactly as you outlined but still no joy -- still get a TSQL syntax error

This is the first time I have tried something like this - perhaps...