How to use VLOOKUP

Abstract

VLOOKUPis one of the most important lookup functions in Excel.

Let’s take a look.

Here we have a list of employees in a table.

By using named ranges, our lookup formulas will be easier to understand and easier to copy.

I’ll use “869” for Julie Irons.

Now let’s use VLOOKUP to get the first name.

In this case, the lookup value is the named range “id.”

The table is our named range “data.”

First name is in column 2, so that’s the number we need.

Range_lookupis a confusing name for an argument, but it simply controls matching.

If set to “0” or FALSE, VLOOKUP will require an exact match.

Otherwise, VLOOKUP may find the wrong value.

We’ll cover non-exact matching with VLOOKUP in another video.

Now I’ll copy the formula down and adjust as needed.

For last name, I need to change the column number to “3”.

For email, the column number is “4”.

For department, the column number is “5”.

And finally, for start date, the column number is “6”.

Now I can enter any valid ID, and VLOOKUP retrieves the correct information from the table.