My spreadsheet contains text only. Is there a way to use some type of lookup formula to scan defined cells and return text that would be in the first column?

Howdy, Mollydog.

Yes, there is a way. But you will have to provide more information about what the arrangement is, columns/rows, etc. and what you expect. Perhaps you can zip an Excel file and attach as an example.

Thanks for helping me out.

Howdy, again. I looked at your spreadsheet, and now have more questions.

Are you able to change the arrangement of the data?

Are you committed to Excel?

How extensive is this? Just what you see, or a major project with hundreds or thousands of students, and many course?

What happens if you have to add more course offerings?

The reason I ask, is that it seems a relational database might be a better way to accomplish this. Especially you already have Course and Teacher for each student, and I suspect that Location will eventually be another option.

Based on the additional information that you emailed me privately, I would suggest the following:

Since the data is there already in Access, I would encourage you to use Access for the type of work you are attempting. The reason is that the relationship between the tables (Students, Courses, Instructors, etc.) and the possibility of adding to any of them make this an ideal Access situation.

Not long ago I was reviewing a database book that had this identical situation. The book is: Database Design for Mere Mortals Michael Hernandez. He goes through the entire process of designing the database, and the example he uses is exactly what you describe. The book is invaluable anyway, but this seems perfect for you. I know that it will make your life much easier than trying to do this in Excel.

If you want to continue using Excel, here is a method to help.

http://www.beyondtechnology.com/tips015.shtml

Thanks so much for all your help. I will let you know how I make out.