It's really not clear what you want to do. Have you considered the standard
lookup table? Column 1 would be your codes and column 2 your descriptions.
Then you can use VLOOKUP in a formula to return the description of a given
code.

--
Jim
"blkturbo" wrote in message
...
|i am new to excel and i really need help. i am trying to compile a table
| where i list all the different options a client has to choose from.
example,
| client 01 can choose from 3 types of wood flooring, and they are listed as
| WF01, WF02, WF03. they can choose from 3 types of stone, ST01, ST02, and
| ST03...ect. the list is huge and the options are endless.
|
| i have been using pivot charts to tell me how many of a particular finish
| has been choosen, and to list all the choices by a particular client. the
| problem is that i want to somehow reference what WF01, WF02, etc... are.
is
| there a way to define that ST01 is a "limestone" and that WF01 is a
"maple",
| in other words can i use a "code" and somehow define it?