The VLOOKUP function is one of the most used in Excel, and also the one which returns the most errors. Let's see how to use it. If the VLOOKUP function is not correctly written, the function returns N/A.

Explanation step-by-step

You have a list of products with details for each one of them. We want to collect the Origin of each fruit, based on the product ID.

Step 1: What we are looking for?

• We want to find a specific row.
• We will find this row by its ID ; the product ID
• So, the first argument of VLOOKUP is the ID of the row we are looking for.

=VLOOKUP(C13,

Step 2: Range of cells of the reference table

This step is very easy. We just write the references of the area where you have your data

=VLOOKUP(C13,$A$2:$E$11,

• Note 1: The first column MUST contain the value we are searching.
• Note 2: It is not necessary to include the header in your array.
• Note 3: You must block the references of your lookup table.

Step 3: What is the column to return

The third argument of the function is the column number you want to return. In our example, the column Origin is in the third position of our lookup table. So the value of the 3rd argument = 3.

=VLOOKUP(C13,$A$2:$E$11,3

Step 4: Exact match (IMPORTANT)

The last argument must be equal to FALSE (or 0).

=VLOOKUP(C13,$A$2:$E$11,3 ,0)

This argument is important because if it is omitted, the value = 1, and 1 (or TRUE) means approximate research. You will see in this article an example of when to use argument 1 with the function VLOOKUP

What happens when we change the search value?

When you change the value to search (first argument), the function returns instantaneously new data from the Origin column. In this example, we search the value ID_003, ID_006, ID_009

What happens when we change the column index?

When we change the third argument, we return the contents of the corresponding column index in the reference table.

For instance, here, we change the index from 5, to 4, to 3, and to 2. Each time, VLOOKUP returns the data of the specified column.

Dynamically change the column

You can customize the third argument with the MATCH function to create a dynamic research and select any column of your table.

• Why VLOOKUP returns #N/A?
• Function XLOOKUP in Excel
• How to use the INDEX function in Excel?
• How to use the MATCH function in Excel?
• VLOOKUP to the left in Excel

Tutorial video

Have a look at this video to see a little girl explaining the VLOOKUP function. If a kid can understand the logic, you can understand it too 😊