stock symbol list

Hello,

I need to keep track of a list of stock symbols. I have been entering them in a single column so I can see if it has already been entered from the auto-complete function of the text. However, at some point - around 1000 cells - it does not recognize a previously entered symbol.

Is it possible to create a formula that will search all cells in a worksheet for a symbol as it is typed in?

Basically, I want to create a worksheet that I type symbols into and it will show me if the symbol already exists.

Thanks,

Scott

use a match function against your list
say list is in col c
then in b1 put
=IF(ISNUMBER(MATCH(A1,C:C,0)),"symbol in use","symbol free to use")
then if you put something in a1 it will return one of those two messages

...great. Thanks.