You can format your IAT# cells using a custom format of "0000000000"
and this will give you 3 leading zeroes in front of 7 digits you
enter.

For the date/time, you can do CTRL-semicolon followed by a <space
followed by CTRL-SHIFT-semicolon to give a date/time-stamp in the
cell. Format the cell(s) how you want them to appear.

You could modify your vlookup formula along the lines of:

=IF(ISNA(vlookup( ... )),"parcel",vlookup( ... ))

Hope these help.

Pete


On Oct 3, 3:06 pm, Clark wrote:
I have forms that i fill out many times daily. Its basic setup is as below:

Date WAT# IAT# SN#
10/3/07 7:45 AM 40000106 0001758365 8F06481

I have a seperate sheet in my notebook that automatically populates the
serial number and IAT# when I enter the WAT#. what i am looking for is a way
to reduce the time spent editing, copying, and pasting. First problem is the
IAT# is always listed as a 7 digit number in the database, but in reality it
is 10 digits with me having to maually add the "000" before the 7 digit
number. Is there a way to do this? Second is the date and time. Is there a
way to enter the formula =now() and then have it automatically cut and paste
itself after each entry so I dont have to worry about the time stamp changing
after each close/reopen of my notebook? Finally, when I enter the WAT# I have
a vlookup that populates the other 2 serial number fields. But if I enter
anything else I need the other 2 fields to automatically populate the word
"parcel". Is there a way to manipulate the vlookup formula to accomplish
this?

Thanks for your help. I know this is quite a laundry list.

--
Clark