Data Validation

[Frank Costa]

I have created a drop down list by using data validation. The issue is I
need to give people the ability to see the description of the item but have
the item number populate that cell (which is to be used for other lookups and
tables). I have done this before with a description in "a1" and the item
number in "a2" but because of the number of cells that have to have the
numbers in them, it would create a huge spreadsheet.

1) Can this be done using data validation? If so, how?
2) The cell width is smaller than the description. Is it possible to
extend that so that the user can see the full description?

Since I'm not an expert in programming, if any macros need to be set up, I
would need a little more info on how to do that (i.e. Tools>macro>......).

Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Dave Peterson]

If all the descriptions are unique, you could base your data|validation on the
description range and then use =vlookup() to return the item number.

Say Sheet2 A1:Axx contain the unique descriptions and B1:Bxx contain the item
numbers.

And Sheet1 cell A1 contains the data|validation cell.

You could put this in B1 (and hide that column???):

=if(a1="","",vlookup(a1,sheet2!a:b,2,false))