If I need to do this I generally put the controls on a panel and disable the panel. It may be effective for your situation. JED >>I would like to change the behaviour of my inherited controls (such as edit >>boxes, combos, memos etc) so that when they are disabled the background is >>gray, but the text remains black. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- New Zealand Delphi Users group - Delphi List - [EMAIL PROTECTED] Website: http://www.delphi.org.nz To UnSub, send email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] with body of "unsubscribe delphi"