Hey Jeo,
You've got both The Doc and Pat Hartman helping you - you're in good hands.
But since you sound like you're still struggling with relationships/IDs in practice, let me tell you you're REAL close.
At the risk of repeating a lesson that's no doubt been illustrated here countless times, here's a walkthrough of dropdowns and how they work well with related ID fields. (Anybody wants to correct me, I say go for it. I can ALWAYS use new tips!)
When you build your form, you'll build it from a query based on the JOIN (aka "intersection) table, i.e. the table that connects the other two tables. As you've found out, it only shows you ID numbers, when you'd like to see colloquial names.
Here's the trick - add dropdown boxes, based on the "main" tables. When you use the dropdown wizard (it's right there on your toolbox), the wizard will walk you through step-by-step.
First, choose "I want the combo box to look up the values in a table or query." After you press NEXT, you'll get a list of Tables and Queries in your database - choose one of your "main" tables. (Actually, it'd probably be better to build a query and base it off of that, but for the purposes of this walkthrough, who cares?)
Now, from this table, make sure you grab the ID field (your Primary Key) AND the descriptive name field. When you press next, you will get a screen that lets you adjust the width of your columns. Chances are, the "Hide key column (recommended)" box will be checked. What this is doing is hiding your Primary Key. If you uncheck this box, you'll see your PK reappear...you can do the same thing this Hide box is doing just by dragging the column width like you would in a Table or in an Excel spreadsheet.
For now, because we want to see all the steps, uncheck the Hide Key Box, then drag the column width of the ID ket to nothing, then click next. The next screen will ask you if you want to store a value in a field...HERE'S where the ID relationships really shine! Choose your ID field, press next.
Now the wizard asks if you want the value for later use, or if you want it stored in a field. Choose "Store that value in this field:" and on the list to the right, choose the ID field that's ALREADY on your form (remember, this is the Foreign Key from the JOIN/"intersection" table). Finally, choose a name for the label, and you're good to go.
(If you left Hide Key Column checked, then Access usually just ask you to name the label and go on your way.)
After all that, here comes the payoff - go to normal view, and you'll see your dropdown with the colloquial names. Whenever you use the dropdown to choose a name, the ID field on your form will change. As you create new records, you use this dropdown to find the colloquial name (remember, this is based on a "main" table, with only one entry for each colloquial name, having a unique ID number) and the ID field on your form will populate with the appropriate ID number (remember, this is baed on your JOIN/"intersection" table, which will have many repeating ID numbers over time, but will always look back to the "main" table for the description/colloquial name).
If you go back to design view and make the ID field on your form invisible (set "Visible" to NO in the properties window), then your users will never be the wiser.
This kind of stuff is sometimes hard to put into words - I say plug away at it for a little while, and then come back and tell us how it worked out for you. Good luck!
