VLOOKUP Example – How to Do VLOOKUP in Excel

As a full-stack developer and data analyst, I can confidently say that VLOOKUP is one of the most essential functions to master in Microsoft Excel. Whether you‘re working with small datasets or large, complex databases, VLOOKUP can save you countless hours of manual searching and help you extract valuable insights from your data.

In this comprehensive guide, we‘ll dive deep into the world of VLOOKUP. I‘ll start by explaining what VLOOKUP is and how it works under the hood. Then I‘ll walk you through detailed, step-by-step examples of how to use VLOOKUP in practice. Along the way, we‘ll cover advanced tips and techniques that even many experienced Excel users don‘t know. Finally, I‘ll discuss some key considerations and best practices to keep in mind when using VLOOKUP in a professional setting.

Whether you‘re a complete Excel novice or a seasoned pro, by the end of this guide you‘ll have a thorough understanding of how to harness the power of VLOOKUP to manipulate and analyze your data like never before. Let‘s get started!

What is VLOOKUP?

VLOOKUP (short for "vertical lookup") is an Excel function that searches for a specific value in a column of data, and returns a corresponding value from another column in the same row. It‘s called a "vertical" lookup because it searches from top to bottom down the first column, and then retrieves a value from a different column in the same row.

VLOOKUP is an extremely versatile function that‘s useful in a wide variety of scenarios, such as:

• Looking up product information (e.g. price, description, category) based on a product ID or SKU
• Finding an employee‘s details (e.g. department, manager, start date) based on their name or employee ID
• Retrieving a student‘s grades or schedule based on their student ID number
• Matching up data from two different tables or data sources that share a common key or ID field

One of the key advantages of using VLOOKUP is that it allows you to separate your data into input values (the keys you‘re looking up) and output values (the results you want to retrieve). This makes your data more organized, maintainable, and less prone to errors and inconsistencies.

How VLOOKUP Works

To really understand the power of VLOOKUP, it helps to peek under the hood and see how the function actually works. Let‘s break it down step-by-step.

The syntax for VLOOKUP is:

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

• lookup_value: The value that you want to look up. This is typically a cell reference containing a unique ID or key.

• table_array: The range of cells containing the data you want to search. The lookup column must be the leftmost column in this range.

• col_index_num: The column number (counting from left to right) that contains the value you want to retrieve.

• [range_lookup]: An optional argument that specifies whether you want an exact or approximate match. FALSE (the default) returns an exact match, while TRUE allows for approximate matching based on the next largest value that is less than the lookup_value.

When you call the VLOOKUP function, Excel follows these steps under the hood:

1. Excel searches for the lookup_value in the leftmost column of the table_array. This search is case-insensitive.

2. If an exact match is found, Excel retrieves the value from the same row in the column specified by col_index_num. If col_index_num is 1, it retrieves the matched value itself.

3. If an exact match is not found and range_lookup is TRUE or omitted, Excel uses an approximate match. It finds the largest value in the leftmost column that is less than or equal to lookup_value, and retrieves the corresponding value from the specified column. Note that for an approximate match to work correctly, the leftmost column must be sorted in ascending order.

4. If range_lookup is FALSE and no exact match is found, VLOOKUP returns the #N/A error.

One key thing to understand about VLOOKUP is that it always searches the leftmost column of table_array, and then retrieves values from a column to the right. You can‘t lookup values from columns to the left of the first column. If you need that flexibility, you‘ll need to use a combination of INDEX and MATCH instead (more on that later).

VLOOKUP Example

Now that you understand the basic mechanics of VLOOKUP, let‘s walk through a concrete example to see how it works in practice.

Imagine you‘re an e-commerce manager in charge of a website that sells computer parts and peripherals. You have a master spreadsheet containing thousands of products, with columns for product ID, name, category, price, and quantity in stock.

On a separate sheet, you have a list of product IDs for items that need to be featured in an upcoming sale. You need to look up the name, current price, and quantity in stock for each of these featured products.

Here‘s a simplified version of what the raw data might look like:

Product Master Data

Product ID	Product Name	Category	Price	In Stock
1001	Wireless Mouse	Mice	$29.99	500
1002	Gaming Mouse	Mice	$79.99	250
1003	Wireless Keyboard	Keyboards	$49.99	1000
1004	Mechanical Keyboard	Keyboards	$149.99	100
1005	500GB SSD	Storage	$99.99	750
1006	1TB HDD	Storage	$59.99	1250
…	…	…	…	…

Sale Products

Product ID
1002
1004
1006

To lookup the data you need for the sale products, you can use a VLOOKUP formula like this in the sheet with the sale product IDs:

=VLOOKUP(A2, ‘Product Master Data‘!$A$2:$E$1000, 2, FALSE)

Here‘s what each part of this formula means:

• A2 is the cell containing the product ID you want to look up (e.g. 1002)
• ‘Product Master Data‘!$A$2:$E$1000 is an absolute reference to the master data table, including the column headers in row 1. The $ signs lock the reference so it doesn‘t change when the formula is copied down.
• 2 means retrieve the value from the 2nd column of the table (Product Name)
• FALSE means only return an exact match for the product ID

To fill in the rest of the product data, you can copy this formula down and change the col_index_num to 4 to retrieve the price and 5 to retrieve the quantity in stock:

Product ID	Product Name	Price	In Stock
1002	Gaming Mouse	$79.99	250
1004	Mechanical Keyboard	$149.99	100
1006	1TB HDD	$59.99	1250

Voila! With a single formula, you‘ve looked up multiple columns of data for each product ID. This saves you the tedium of manually searching for each product and copying the values one by one.

Of course, this is just a tiny example. Imagine how much time VLOOKUP can save you when working with thousands or even millions of rows of data spread across multiple sheets or workbooks.

Advanced VLOOKUP Techniques

Now that you‘ve seen the basics of VLOOKUP in action, let‘s explore some more advanced techniques that can take your VLOOKUP skills to the next level.

Case-Sensitive Lookups

By default, VLOOKUP is case-insensitive, meaning it treats uppercase and lowercase letters as equivalent when searching for lookup_value. In most cases this is fine, but sometimes you may need to do a case-sensitive lookup.

To make VLOOKUP case-sensitive, use the EXACT function to compare the lookup_value to the values in your table:

=VLOOKUP(EXACT(A1), $A$2:$C$10, 3, FALSE)

Wildcard Searches

You can use the wildcard characters ? and * with VLOOKUP to perform partial matching. ? matches any single character, while * matches any sequence of characters. For example:

• "s?t" would match "sat" and "sit" but not "seat"
• "t*e" would match "the", "table" and "tentacle"

To use wildcards with VLOOKUP, wrap the lookup_value in the COUNTIF function with a comparison operator:

=VLOOKUP("*"&A1&"*", $A$2:$C$10, 3, FALSE)

This formula will match any value in the lookup column that contains the value in cell A1. The "*" wildcards match any characters before or after the lookup value.

Two-Way Lookups

What if you need to look up a value based on multiple criteria, like a product name and category? You can use a combination of VLOOKUP and the CONCAT function to perform a two-way lookup:

=VLOOKUP(A1&"|"&B1, $F$2:$H$10, 3, FALSE)

In this example, the pipe character | is used to concatenate the lookup values in cells A1 and B1. The lookup table in the range F2:H10 contains concatenated keys in the first column. For example:

Key	Price
Mouse|Wireless	$29.99
Keyboard|Wireless	$49.99
Mouse|Gaming	$79.99

The VLOOKUP formula will match the concatenated value from A1 and B1, and return the corresponding price from the 3rd column of the lookup table.

Combining VLOOKUP with Other Functions

One of the most powerful aspects of VLOOKUP is how easily it can be combined with other Excel functions to build even more sophisticated formulas. Here are a few examples:

• IFERROR(VLOOKUP(...), "Not Found"): Replace the #N/A error with a custom message if the lookup value isn‘t found
• VLOOKUP(MAX(A1:A10), ...): Look up the details for the maximum value in a range
• SUMIF(A1:A10, VLOOKUP(B1, ...)): Sum values in a range that match a VLOOKUP result
• VLOOKUP(INDEX(...), ...): Use INDEX to dynamically select the lookup value for VLOOKUP

The possibilities are endless! As you gain more experience with VLOOKUP and other Excel functions, you‘ll start to see opportunities to combine them in creative ways to automate and optimize your workflow.

VLOOKUP Best Practices

To get the most out of VLOOKUP, here are some best practices to follow:

1. Keep your data organized and consistent

VLOOKUP works best when your data is structured vertically in a consistent format. Avoid mixing data types in the same column, and make sure your lookup keys are unique and free of errors or typos.

2. Use absolute and mixed references

To make your VLOOKUP formulas more resilient and reusable, use absolute column references ($A) or mixed references (e.g. A$1) for the table_array argument. This way you can copy the formula to other cells without breaking the reference.

3. Refer to named ranges

If you have a large or complex lookup table, consider giving it a named range (e.g. "ProductMaster") and referring to that name in your VLOOKUP formulas. This makes your formulas more readable and easier to update if the data moves.

4. Use approximate match sparingly

In most cases, you‘ll want to use FALSE for an exact match in VLOOKUP. Only use TRUE or approximate matching if you need to match a range of possible values and your data is sorted correctly.

5. Beware of #N/A and #REF! errors

#N/A means the lookup value doesn‘t exist in the first column of the table. #REF! means the col_index_num is greater than the number of columns in the table. Double-check your inputs and references if you see these errors.

6. Consider alternatives like INDEX/MATCH

While VLOOKUP is great for many scenarios, it has some limitations. It can only look up values in the leftmost column, and it doesn‘t work well with large, unsorted datasets. In these cases, consider using a combination of the INDEX and MATCH functions instead for more flexibility and performance.

Conclusion

VLOOKUP is a vital tool in any Excel power user‘s toolbox. Whether you‘re a financial analyst, sales manager, marketer, or anyone else who deals with data, mastering VLOOKUP will make you more effective and efficient at your job.

In this guide, we‘ve explored the fundamentals of VLOOKUP and walked through several practical examples of how to use it. We‘ve also delved into some advanced techniques and best practices for getting the most out of this versatile function.

Of course, mastering VLOOKUP takes practice. I encourage you to start incorporating it into your own Excel projects and workflows. Start with simple, single-column lookups and work your way up to more complex examples. As you gain confidence, try combining VLOOKUP with other functions and features of Excel to build powerful, automated solutions.

Remember, even as an experienced developer, I‘m always learning new things about Excel and finding new ways to use functions like VLOOKUP. There‘s always more to explore and discover. So keep learning, keep experimenting, and don‘t be afraid to make mistakes along the way. With practice and persistence, you‘ll be amazed at how much you can accomplish with this one simple function.