How to Use Excel Vlookup

Welcome to this blog post about using Excel VLOOKUP. Whether you’re new to Excel or have been using it for a while, VLOOKUP is a powerful tool that can help you make sense of data in a quick and efficient way. By using this function, you can quickly search for information in a table and retrieve related data. In this guide, we’ll go over the basics of VLOOKUP and show you how to use it to streamline your data analysis tasks. Let’s get started!

Understanding VLOOKUP

Before diving into how to use VLOOKUP, it’s important to understand what it does. VLOOKUP stands for “vertical lookup” and it’s a function that helps you search for a specific value in a table or range of cells, and then return a corresponding value from that table. This is particularly useful for quickly finding information in large datasets, such as employee names, salaries, and job titles.

How to Use VLOOKUP

Step 1: Set Up Your Data

The first step in using VLOOKUP is to make sure your data is set up correctly. You need to have a table with the data you want to look up, and a cell where you’ll enter the value you want to search for. Make sure the first column of your table contains the values you’ll be searching for, and that the information you want to retrieve is in a column to the right of that.

Step 2: Enter the VLOOKUP function

To start using VLOOKUP, click on the cell where you want to enter the data, and then type in the VLOOKUP function. The syntax of VLOOKUP is as follows:

=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup])

Don’t worry if this looks complicated – it’s actually pretty simple. Here’s what each of these parameters means:

• lookup_value: This is the value you want to search for.
• table_array: This is the range of cells that contains your data table.
• col_index_num: This is the column number of the data you want to return.
• range_lookup: This is an optional parameter that specifies whether you want an exact or approximate match for the lookup_value. If you leave this blank or enter “TRUE”, Excel will assume you want an approximate match.

Step 3: Fill in the Parameters

Now that you understand the individual components of the VLOOKUP function, it’s time to fill them in. Type in the lookup_value parameter first. This should be the cell where you want to enter the value you’re looking for. Then, enter a comma to move on to the next parameter.

Next, enter the table_array parameter. This should be the range of cells that contains your data table. Make sure to include the entire table, along with any column headings.

The col_index_num parameter is the column number of the data you want to return. Count how many columns it is from the leftmost column of your table to the column containing the data you want to look up. For example, if the data you want to retrieve is in the third column of your table, your parameter should be “3”.

The range_lookup parameter is optional, so you can leave it blank or enter “TRUE” to find an approximate match.

Step 4: Hit Enter and Enjoy Your Results!

Now that you’ve entered all the parameters of the VLOOKUP function, simply hit enter and watch your results pop up! Excel will search your table for the lookup value you entered and return the value from the specified column. You can then copy and paste this function into other cells to quickly retrieve similar data.

Conclusion

That’s all there is to it! By learning how to use VLOOKUP, you can quickly sort through large datasets and retrieve the exact information you need, saving you time and effort. Whether you’re dealing with employee salaries, product prices, or customer data, VLOOKUP is a powerful tool that can help you streamline your work and get results faster than ever before. Happy analyzing!

Using VLOOKUP with Exact Match

Sometimes, you need to search for an exact match between your lookup_value and the data in your table. In this case, you can modify the range_lookup parameter and change it to “FALSE”. This will instruct Excel to only return data that exactly matches the lookup value you entered.

For example, if you’re looking for a specific employee by their employee ID, you’ll want to use an exact match so that Excel doesn’t return any other employees with similar ID numbers.

Using VLOOKUP with Wildcards

If you’re not sure of the exact match of your lookup_value, you can use a wildcard character to help Excel search through your data. For example, you can use an asterisk (*) to represent any number of characters and a question mark (?) to represent a single character.

For instance, if you’re looking for specific departments like “Marketing” or “HR”, but are not sure about the spelling or case sensitivity, you can use the following VLOOKUP function:

=VLOOKUP(“*market*”, A2:B10, 2, FALSE)

This will return any matches that contain the word “market”, including “Marketing” or “Market Research”.

Using VLOOKUP with Multiple Criteria

By default, VLOOKUP only searches for matches in the first column of your table. However, sometimes you’ll have data in multiple columns that you want to search through. In this case, you can use a combination of INDEX and MATCH functions along with VLOOKUP to search for data in multiple columns.

For example, if you have a table with employee data that includes their names, departments, and salaries, and you want to find the salary of a specific employee in a specific department, you can use the following formula:

=VLOOKUP(B10,INDEX(A2:C10,0,1),MATCH(B11,A1:C1,0),FALSE)

Here, you’re using the INDEX function to specify that you want to search through columns A to C, and the MATCH function to specify which column to return data from.

By adding these functions to your VLOOKUP formula, you can quickly and easily search through large datasets with multiple criteria, making it a powerful tool for data analysis and decision-making.

FAQ

Here are some frequently asked questions about using VLOOKUP in Excel:

What if my lookup_value isn’t in the first column of my table?

If your lookup_value is not in the first column of your table, you can still use VLOOKUP. Simply specify the column number of the lookup_value as the second parameter of the function, and then specify the range of cells that contains your table. For example:

=VLOOKUP(“John Doe”, B2:C10, 2, FALSE)

This formula will search for “John Doe” in the second column of the B2:C10 table and return the corresponding value from the third column.

Can I use VLOOKUP to search for data in multiple sheets?

Yes, you can use VLOOKUP to search for data across multiple sheets in Excel. Simply specify the name of the sheet followed by an exclamation point (!) before the range of cells you want to search through. For example:

=VLOOKUP(“John Doe”, Sheet2!B2:C10, 2, FALSE)

This formula will search for “John Doe” in the second column of the B2:C10 table on Sheet2 and return the corresponding value from the third column.

What if my lookup_value contains errors or blank cells?

If your lookup_value contains errors or blank cells, VLOOKUP will return an error message. To prevent this, you can use the IFERROR function to display a more user-friendly message. For example:

=IFERROR(VLOOKUP(B2, A2:C10, 3, FALSE), “No data found”)

This formula will search for the value in cell B2 and return the corresponding value from the third column, or display “No data found” if there is no match.

Is VLOOKUP case sensitive?

By default, VLOOKUP is not case-sensitive. However, you can make it case-sensitive by using an array formula instead of a standard VLOOKUP formula. To do this, you would need to use the following formula:

=INDEX(Table1[Column2], MATCH(1,(Table1[Column1]=B2)* (Table1[Column3]=B3),0))

Remember to press Ctrl+Shift+Enter after typing in this formula to make it work as an array formula. This will return an exact match, including case.

Can VLOOKUP be used to search for data in a horizontal table?

No, VLOOKUP can only search for data in a vertical table. If you have a horizontal table, you can use the HLOOKUP function instead, which works in much the same way as VLOOKUP but searches horizontally instead of vertically.