Thanks for going to the trouble to reply. For my purposes I need 1) to look
at my data in datasheet view and 2) to refer to the form view (single page)
in order to consult notes (in memo form) that I make on particular records.
I realise that I can have numerous forms but in my case generally I need only
one - the main purpose of which is to store my notes. What I need to get to
is a situation where I can move easily between the datasheet and the form. I
now know from the Northwind 2007 sample database that it is possible to do
it in Access at the click of my mouse on the datasheet view. I just don't
know how to design the connection. I suppose what I am really asking is how
do I design my datasheet to provide the facility that I have found in the
Northwind Customer List.

"Fred" wrote:

Hello Aeneas,

First, clarifying terminology, forms are just windows to data. You can
design 100 different forms to look at the same data, so there is no such
thing a A (singular) form for a record.

Second, 99.9% of the time, tables are not the way to look at data. I say
that forms and queries are, other people say that only forms are.

Next I'm assuming that the form that you want to view the record in is a
"one page per record" type form. (There are other tyeps, such as ones that
look like the table view, with a different record in each line.

The short answer is to not even use the table view. There are a zillion
ways to do what you want to do, half of them fall under the following: open
the form that you want to use, and then bring up the desired record in that
form. One of them is to click on the field (ANY field) that you want to
locate by, hit the binoculars, and then punching in your criteria.

While this involves searching for the record, in your described situation
you are already doing that anyway, now you just have to use one "screen"