The last code I posted had the following:

"Initial Catalog='Northwind';Integrated Security='SSPI';"

Inital Catalog and Integrated Security are two columns in the database.

In your database you have two columns "Permit Number" and "Engineer". Your
want

SQL = "Permit Number = '1234';Engineer = 'Lawson & Lawson Engineers, LLC'"



Now if you want to make the line variable do this

PNum = 1234
Eng = Lawson & Lawson Engineers, LLC

Then

SQL = "Permit Number = '" & PNum & "';Engineer = '" & Eng &"'"

The above line has the following in order

" - a single quote
'" - a single quote followed by a double quote
"' - a double quote followed by a single quote
'" - a single quote followed by a double quote
"'" - a double quote, single quote, and then another double quote


I hope this gets you a little futher along
"gab1972" wrote:

I really hate to be a pain...

I understand that the last bit of code gives me a connection to access
from Excel using ADO....what part is allowing me to search?

Right now, I'm only giving the option to search by permit number. The
user selects a permit number from a combobox and based on that value,
Excel is going to Access, finding the corresponding recordset and
bringing it back to Excel. What I want is to expand my search
string. So instead of limiting to a permit number...say the permit
was applied for in Sumter County (one of the counties in my state) and
the engineer was Lawson & Lawson Engineers, LLC. I want my user to be
able to type in "Sumter, Lawson" in a box and have Excel find all
recordsets in my data table matching those criteria. There might be 4
recordsets matching Sumter County and Lawson & Lawson Engineers, LLC,
but each with different permit numbers. This gives the user a bit
more flexibility in narrowing down their search if they don't know the
specific permit number.

Again, I *REALLY* appreciate all your help...I hope I'm not
frustrating you with all the questions.