This returns all of the text after the last occurrence of ":"
For a value in A1


B1:
=RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-LOOKUP(LEN(A1),FIND(":",A1,ROW(INDEX($A:$A,1,1):INDEX($A:$A,LEN(A1),1)))))

Does that help?

***********
Regards,
Ron

XL2002, WinXP-Pro


"Louis" wrote:

> Quickbooks exports our item list as such:
>
> CIRCUIT CONTROL VALVES- Pneumad:Pressure
> Regulators:11-Series:Relieving:R11-RK-66
>
> the ":" is the category the item to the right is in.
>
> All I need from this is the part # at the end, the R11-RK-66. It will
> always be at the end of the string. the problem is there are 12K parts, so I
> can't just "text to column" and go that route, it would take forever. I need
> a formula or macro I think to take out just the last item after the last ":"
> A small kicker in this is some items may have 4 categories, some may have 2,
> some may have 0.
> Thanks in advance for any ideas...
>
> --
> Louis