Yah i think using dir and filesystem might work. Thats what I figured was happening with the dir() having its path overiden i just wasnt sure if there was a way to set up two instances for dir() but from what i have been reading you cant.

To elaborate a bit what im bassically doing is i have a folder that contains 4 sub folders. one of the sub folders holds about 20 files that will eventually become final reports. the other three subfolders hold various files with various types of data to include in the final reports.

what I am trying to do is hold the folder with the main final reports open while cycling through the files in the other 3 subfolders.

i