The easiest way is to simply extract the first 3 letters
in an adjacent cell:

=LEFT(A1,3)

HTH
Jason
Atlanta, GA

-----Original Message-----
hi all,
I'm using excel 2000.
Is there a way to have a drop down list that displays
the full text, but
upon selection only returns the first 3 characters? for
example,
in the list I have : 123 apples, 345 Oranges.
I want the Users to see "123 apples", but when they
choose it, only "123" is
placed in the cell.

TIA

James


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