1) In Access there is a column() property that allows display of unbound columns of multi-column data displayed by a combo box. Similarly, an Excel combo box displays multiple columns in the drop-down window but only displays the bound column after selection. I have used a VLOOKUP in a cell to the right of the combo box to display the data column to the right of the bound column, and could repeat for additional columns.

Is there a better practice for displaying all relevant data?

2) When using the VLOOKUP above, where the bound column contained integers, I had to use VLOOKUP(VALUE([linked cell]),[table_range],2) to change the datatype. I don't understand the datatype problem.