Report Design Response Is Slow - Based On UNION Query That Returns 12K Rows

I have a front end that is connected to three back end files. The front end is on my local computer while the back end files are on a network drive.

There are a lot of calculations that go into the queries and intermediate queries. For a report, I have based it on a UNION query.

But when trying to design the report it takes about 45 seconds just to do any one thing, e.g.;
- Add Groupings
- Add Grouping Headers//Footer, sorting option
- Add bound textbox
:eek:

Needless to say this is very annoying.
:mad:

The union query itself runs fine (takes about 15 seconds to run) and returns about 12,000 Rows. The union query looks like this (I changed the field names to make it read easier, hopefully);

SELECT a1, a2, a3, a4, a5
FROM qry_A;

UNION SELECT ALL a1, b2 AS a2, b3 AS a3, a4, a5
FROM qry_B;

UNION SELECT ALL a1, c2 AS a2, c3 AS a3, a4, a5
FROM qry_C;

UNION SELECT ALL a1, d2 AS a2, a3, a4, a5
FROM qry_D;

UNION SELECT ALL a1, e2 AS a2, a3, a4, a5
FROM qry_E;

UNION SELECT ALL a1, f2AS a2, tblG.f3 AS a3, tblG.f4 AS a4, a5
FROM qry_F;

One solution I came across when searching the forums was to use an Append Query to append the query results to a table and base my report on that. This does indeed fix the problem.

But what I was wondering if it was is my query design that is causing it to be slow or is it just the fact that I am returning 12,000 rows?
:confused:

In case it matters, I wanted to mention that I can’t use the report wizard to create the report. When I select the union query, the fields will be showed for awhile then they just disappear. That in and of itself doesn’t cause any trouble since I am creating the report using the design view and not the wizard.