thanks. . i know.

i've changed it to a VLOOKUP() formula, but i've come across 2 problems.
1 my info that im looking up in on the left side of the description, and as
far as i know, vlookup always looks on column A (or the left side)

so:

Item Description
1 C3 x 4.1
2 C4 x 6.2
3 2 x 4
4 2 x 2 x .125

i want to return the item number, using the description. it can't be the
other way around because i have the description in a dropdown list - ppl wont
know what steel it is by the item number.

2 im stil getting a #N/A error, which doesnt make sense, because the
dropdown list has its descriptions copied into it from the sheet im trying to
compare it to. so they should be exactly the same.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

You have an active thread elsewhere.

Derrick wrote:

Why won't Lookup recognize C3 x 4.1 when the cell im looking it up in has...
C3 x 4.1 exactly?
also in that column are 2 x 4, 2 x 2 x .125, and many more, but Lookup() can
'lookup' these cells.

can anyone offer an explanation? or a method of fixing this?

thanks

--

Dave Peterson