Dear Jon:

If is is the case that there is no row, or combination of rows, that
uniquely identify the rows in a table, then the only way would be to use a
random number to give them values and sort by that.  Even then, there is no
guarantee of uniqueness.

If the rows in your table do not have a unique order then a query won't
help.

You could open the table using VBA as a recordset and assign sequential
numbers to them.

You could add an autonumber column.

Just for the purpose of theoretical research, what would be accomplished for
you by assigning numbers to them?  What would this allow you to do which you
cannot do without numbering?

Tom Ellison

A table HAS NO ORDER. That's like asking to number the potatoes in a
wheelbarrow in "natural order". Access will store new records in a
table in whatever order is convenient; sure, they'll usually be
sequential, but you CANNOT count on it.

If need be you can add a Long Integer field and open a Recordset:

Dim db As DAO.Database
Dim rs As DAO.Recordset
Dim iRec As Long
Set db = CurrentDb
Set rs = db.OpenRecordset("yourtable", dbOpenDynaset)
iRec = 1
Do Until rs.EOF
    rs!RecNo = iRec
    iRec = iRec+1
    rs.MoveNext
Loop

                 John W. Vinson[MVP]