Hello. Let me preface by saying i have been using access for about 2 days. I have a table which hosts my job data. I need to track when the status changes from new, to working to complete. My first table is for my jobs. it has 2 columns which access a seperate status table. Those 2 columns are called status ID. The status table takes the status ID and gives it its proper reference, new, working or closed. I need to calculate date difference in these which is why i created it this way. problem is, i only get back the actual reference in a query when it is a new job. When i have 2 different status, It just gives me the id. It is connected in a 1 to many relationship. the status id in the jobs table links to the status id in the status table. I hope my request is clear. thanks for all the help groundhog