Is there any way to force orphans in a child table.

The reason that i ask is that I have a table for investigation (parent) linked to a table for line (child). Now if the part is returned with no identifing marks the investigation can not conclude which line it was produced on, but if I try to exit my investigation form without completing all the controls I get the "can't find...key matching fields" error.

I have tried placing a blank entry in the child table and also removing the referential integrity but neither works.

I had a similar problem and solved it by creating a line named unknown to be used in the situation you described.

Brilliant! How simple was that?

Sometimes I doubt my own sanity, I think Access is to blame.

Many Thanks, this way I can preserve my integrity and the referential kind

You're welcome