I have a lookup control on Form A that displays multiple choice checkboxes from text data on an external list.  The issue is that sometimes the text on the external list has to be tweaked to reflect updated standards or values, but any text change removes the "choice" on the first list (Form A) because it is no longer recognized.

Is there a way to save the lookup column's choices to just ID#s while still displaying the text related to those IDs?

OR is there a way to save the multiple choice lookup column values to a multi line textbox (the values have too many characters for a single line textbox)?  I could re-calculate the choices on the first form via workflow if the external data is updated.

Any help is appreciated.