I have an access form that has a listbox that shows all academic details. when a surname is entered in the text field and the button is clicked the following code behind the button runs: ############################################ Dim sql As String Dim WHERE As String sql = "SELECT * From zearchall3 WHERE [Surnames] = Forms!searchall!surname2" List0.RowSource = sql List0.Requery ######################################### However i need to capture the results that appear in the listbox in order to export them DoCmd.TransferText acExportMerge, ,[what do i put here?], "c:\datafile.txt" normally i'd put the query where the bracketed question is, but as this is not a query with a name i'm not sure how to refer to it. if the listbox was linked to a existing queryname i'd put it in there, but as the rowsourse is an sql statement how do i capture the data in the listbox?

ok i solved it. i used this advice from this webpage http://www.access-programmers.co.uk... had to save the query...phew done!