Home » Excel Templates » How To Do Vlookup In Excel: A Comprehensive Guide

How To Do Vlookup In Excel: A Comprehensive Guide

Saturday, July 22nd 2023. | Excel Templates

VLOOKUP Excel 2010 (Advanced) YouTube from www.youtube.com

Introduction

Excel is a powerful tool that has become a staple in many workplaces. One of the most commonly used functions in Excel is VLOOKUP. VLOOKUP is a function that allows you to search for a specific value in a table and return a corresponding value from a different column. In this article, we will discuss how to do VLOOKUP in Excel in detail.

Sample 1: Simple VLOOKUP Function

Let’s start with a simple example. Suppose you have a table of employee data with columns for name, department, and salary. You want to find the salary of an employee named John. Here’s how you can use VLOOKUP: 1. Select the cell where you want to display the salary. 2. Type “=VLOOKUP(“John”,A2:C6,3,FALSE)” (without quotes) in the formula bar. 3. Press Enter. The formula will search for “John” in the first column of the table A2:C6 and return the corresponding salary from the third column.

Sample 2: VLOOKUP with Wildcards

Sometimes, you may not know the exact value you are searching for. For example, you may want to find all employees whose names start with “J”. Here’s how you can use VLOOKUP with wildcards: 1. Select the cell where you want to display the results. 2. Type “=VLOOKUP(“J*”,A2:C6,2,FALSE)” (without quotes) in the formula bar. 3. Press Enter. The formula will search for all values in the first column of the table A2:C6 that start with “J” and return the corresponding department from the second column.

Sample 3: VLOOKUP with Multiple Criteria

In some cases, you may need to use multiple criteria to find the desired result. For example, you may want to find the salary of an employee named John who works in the Sales department. Here’s how you can use VLOOKUP with multiple criteria: 1. Select the cell where you want to display the salary. 2. Type “=VLOOKUP(“John”&”Sales”,A2:C6,3,FALSE)” (without quotes) in the formula bar. 3. Press Enter. The formula will search for the combination of “John” and “Sales” in the first two columns of the table A2:C6 and return the corresponding salary from the third column.

Tips for Using VLOOKUP

1. Always make sure that the column you are searching for is on the left side of the table. 2. Use absolute references for the table array to avoid errors when copying the formula to other cells. 3. Use wildcards (*) to search for values that contain a certain string. 4. Use the “FALSE” argument to ensure that the formula returns an exact match.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Q1. What is VLOOKUP? A1. VLOOKUP is a function in Excel that allows you to search for a specific value in a table and return a corresponding value from a different column. Q2. What is the syntax of VLOOKUP? A2. The syntax of VLOOKUP is “=VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, range_lookup)”. Q3. What is the difference between “TRUE” and “FALSE” in VLOOKUP? A3. The “TRUE” argument in VLOOKUP allows for approximate matches, while the “FALSE” argument requires an exact match. Q4. Can VLOOKUP be used with multiple criteria? A4. Yes, VLOOKUP can be used with multiple criteria by concatenating the criteria in the lookup_value argument. Q5. What is the maximum number of columns that VLOOKUP can search? A5. VLOOKUP can search up to 256 columns. Q6. What is the maximum number of rows that VLOOKUP can search? A6. VLOOKUP can search up to 1,048,576 rows. Q7. Can VLOOKUP search for values in another worksheet or workbook? A7. Yes, VLOOKUP can search for values in another worksheet or workbook by specifying the file path in the table_array argument.

Conclusion

VLOOKUP is a powerful function in Excel that can save you time and effort when working with large amounts of data. By following the tips and examples in this article, you should be able to use VLOOKUP effectively in your own work. Remember to always double-check your formulas and use absolute references to avoid errors. Happy Excel-ing!