Bob,

Thanks, that's where I was heading with my opening query. One supporting file with all the inventory of items that can appear in kits. One main file where the user enters the activity (header) records, with some VBA code to add/insert detail lines.

Once the user enters an item number on a detail line and tabs out of the field, the VBA can retrieve all of the related data in the supporting file and add it.

In the alternative (perhaps, just thinking as I type), could the item detail fields (other than the item number) be VLOOKUPS pointing back to that supporting table? If so, any change in the detail fields of an item would immediately populate the items detail lines on the main sheet.

If I used the first, I would need to add a mechanism so the user can update lines (singly or all) where any of the underlying item detail has changed. The benefit, though, is that the user can chose to freeze item detail in a book, while allowing on-going maintenance of the supporting file. It can evolve and grow.

If I use the second, then, I have to determine how the user can freeze item detail information for one (or more but not all) books. Perhaps, a macro to edit > copy > paste special > values to break the 'linking' for that item?

Thanks,