You probably saw, or will see, my response on another thread that for now I think I shall work with the LibreOffice embedded version of Firebird. I have to admit that much of what you wrote here is Greek to me. Yes, you are right, I had thought that working with databases through an office application like LibreOffice would enable me to avoid having to delve to deeply into these things I have no understanding of. Well, little by little I may learn. We'll see.