Your problem suggests to me that you need to study something called "database normalization" because you are treating the dataset like a spreadsheet. With Access, that is not always a correct viewpoint. Also, your choice of the term "column" is a subtle indicator of an Excel or other spreadsheet background, since in Access the correct term is "field." This is not a "knock" against you because we have seen folks "in transition" between Excel and Access do the same thing hundreds of times.
I'm not saying you can't do what you described, but what I understood of your problem suggests that you have value-oriented or value-related column names / field names - which is usually a sign of a denormalized database. You absolutely CAN have denormalized tables but they are highly inefficient. Before we help you build a database of questionable efficiency, perhaps we should direct you to learning about more efficient methods.
If you search this forum you can find some discussions of normalization. However, this is a database forum. If you search the general web you must search for "database normalization" because there are other disciplines that use the term "normalization" as well. (For example, "diplomatic normalization".)
For a general web search, start with sites in the .EDU domain. Look at a few articles to see if any of them "connect" with you. Some might be overly esoteric. Others will be easier. Find one you like as a starting point. However, once you begin to understand normalization better, the .COM domains are OK. It is just that many of them have something to sell you, which might be a distraction at first.
If you DO know about normalization and have chosen this path anyway, then we might need to know more about WHY you want to redirect your actions in the table based on a choice that won't always be stored in the same field/column .
