There are differences between the two.

If you change the record source, it will be faster.
However, the advantage of filtering is that you can unfilter.

Jeffrey

I have some databases that perform certain functions at specific times and I need the database to be consistent for all users.

So I use SQL to update the information, then filters on all the forms and reports so everyone is looking at the same information.

In some databases, you also don't want to keep running queries on the database.  It just depends on your database and the limitations you have.

-Raymond