axis,

thanks by the way for your wonderfull help. you replied to one of my slightly old post subjet "is there a way to restrict tab on a field that is empty?"

and i attempted to try it but it didn't work. for some reason it tells me i need a bracket or something.

this is what you gave me.

[Field]: Iif(Not IsNull(Me![Field]), Me![CommandButton].Enabled= True, MsgBox "You must fill in this field to continue.", vbOKOnly)

is this correct? i've named the field and command button as followed. please help me get this problme solved. Thank you.

Sorry - too much of a rush when I answered. Try

If Not IsNull(Me![Field]) Then Me![CommandButton].Enabled= True Else MsgBox "You must fill in this field to continue.", vbOKOnly