I'm modifying a database made by another person. The ID Field is a numeric field (it keeps track of video tapes). However, some items have a letter as part of their ID code (par example - our CD Roms are CD - 1, CD - 2, etc; Equipment [vcr, screen, etc] are E1, E2, etc.).

Now we have several duplicates in the video category and they are listed w/a decimal. So for 3 copies of video 345, their ID numbers are 345.1, 345.2, 345.3

This also refers to their shelf number so it helps us locate the video. Anyway, that prevents us from having a numeric suffix or prefix (at least in my thinking).

So, a numeric field will not recognize the letters and a text field will not sort the numbers.

any suggestions?null

Change the ID field to a text field so the entries will be recognized as a text string and not a number. You can enter alpha characters in a number field, but they are ignored when printed, calculations, etc.