Thanks for the links- I appreciate you taking the time to reply. We really
are planning to split the db soon.

I've included the code in case something catches your eye...

In debug, the code craps out:
    If Not IsNull(Me.LastName) And (DonorTypeID = "CU" Or
DonorTypeID = "IN"            
Me.Sndx = Soundex(Me.LastName)

(which makes sense if it is confused as to which LastName it is trying to
verify when more than one person is entering a LastName).

Here's the code:

'NEW SOUNDEX CODE FROM STEVES
'is this a new entry?
   If (Me.NewRecord = True) Then

       'DONOR TYPES
       ' CU - Customer,  IN - Individual
       ' BU - Business,  CI - ???
       ' FO - ???   ,    ME - ???

       Select Case Me.DonorTypeID
       Case "BU", "CI", "FO", "ME"

       Case "CU", "IN"
       'if more cases to run the soundex code are added, don't forget to
change the strSQL as noted.
           Dim varID As Variant
           Dim rst As DAO.Recordset, strNames As String
           Dim gstrAppTitle As String
           Dim strSQL As String
           Dim SName As String

           gstrAppTitle = "Name Check"

           If IsNull(Me.LastName) Then
               'for CU & IN donor types
               MsgBox "For Donor Type 'Customer' and 'Individual', the Last
Name is Required, vbExclamation + vbOKOnly"
               Cancel = True
           Else    ' Check for similar name

               ' ******** LastName is the name of the control on the form
               ' that is bound to the LastName field
               SName = Soundex(Me.LastName)
'                     'for debugging
'                        Debug.Print SName

               ' Open a recordset to look for similar names
               strSQL = "SELECT LastName, FirstName, Sndx"
               strSQL = strSQL & " FROM contacts"
               strSQL = strSQL & " Where (DonorTypeID = 'CU' OR DonorTypeID
= 'IN')"
               'if more DonorTypeID are added in which we want to run
soundex, don't forget to add them here as well.
               strSQL = strSQL & " AND Sndx = '" & SName & "'"
               strSQL = strSQL & " ORDER BY LastName, FirstName;"
               
'                     'for debugging
'                    Debug.Print strSQL

               
               Set rst = CurrentDb.OpenRecordset(strSQL)

               'check for records in recordset
               If Not (rst.BOF And rst.EOF) Then
                   rst.MoveLast
                   rst.MoveFirst
                   ' If got some similar names, issue warning message
                   Do Until rst.EOF
                       strNames = strNames & rst!LastName & ", " &
rst!FirstName & vbCrLf
                       rst.MoveNext
                   Loop
                   ' See if we got some similar names
                   If Len(strNames) > 0 Then
                       ' Yup, issue warning
                       If vbNo = MsgBox(" There are members with similar "
& "last names already saved in the database: " & vbCrLf & vbCrLf & _
                                        strNames & vbCrLf & "Are you sure
this member is not a duplicate?", vbQuestion + vbYesNo + vbDefaultButton2,
gstrAppTitle) Then
                                       
                           ' Cancel the save
                           Cancel = True
'                            Me.Undo
                           Me.LastName.SetFocus

                       Else
                           ' good name  - add soundex code and save record
                           Me.Sndx = SName
                       End If  'If vbNo
                   End If    'If Len(strNames) > 0
               End If   'If rst.RecordCount > 0
               ' Done with the recordset
               rst.Close
               Set rst = Nothing
           End If   'If Not IsNull(Me.LastName)
       End Select

   Else  'not a new entry
       ' saves soundex code when editing current record

       ' ******** LName is the name of the control on the form
       ' that is bound to the LastName field
       If Not IsNull(Me.LastName) And (DonorTypeID = "CU" Or DonorTypeID =
"IN") Then
           Me.Sndx = Soundex(Me.LastName)
       End If
   End If   'If (Me.NewRecord = True)

 End Sub

CORRECTION!

splitting is no longer necessary; it is reccomended to move to Access Data
Projects for all Microsoft Access applications

OK, I've practiced splitting the db ;-) thanks for the push to do so.

So now I have the db with the "orginal name" that has all of the forms, and
the tables now have an arrow in front of their names.
Then I have the "original name_be" portion of the database that only has
tables.
It was easy, so I imagine the hard part is coming up!

I'm planning to use Tony's free FE updater, that updates the new FE to all
users on the network when we place a new version in the directory where the
BE is.

I'd appreciate a bit of advice on the technicalities:
I'm going to create a directory which will house the FE, BE and the FE
updater. I'll create a shortcut to the FE on each users desktop.
Periodically, we'll need to compact and repair- is that on both the FE and BE?

Anything else I need to do?

Thanks for the advice!