This must be idiotically simple. I want to add to my query a total line where I can add up the counts of various categories, having used the count option in the sigma line to group the categories. And then I want to calculate the counts as percentages of the total. It is unbelievably klutzy to either export to excel to do this or <HORRORS> to do it by hand when I am already IN A COMPUTER.

The recordset built by a single query cannot contain BOTH summary and detail rows. If you want to see both, build a report and add a report footer to summarize the detail. You can also calculate percentages in the footer. If you use the wizard to build the report from your base query, you can specify the aggregate options and it will calculate them for you.

Thank you Pat. Is it an imposition to ask whether I can do this through a query? I am very unfamiliar with reports, and the wizard seems grumpy. I have figued out how to build a query that simply counts the total number of records; just use a dummy variable always set to 1 and count on it. So I should be able to bring together the query that counts by category and the query that gives me a total count for all categories in a third query and calculate the percentage by category. Or have I lost my mind again? Thank you very much for taking the time to answer.

That works. Thanks, Pat, for letting me understand about the detail and the summary.