vlookup

VLOOKUP Quick Reference Guide From Microsoft

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If you're brand new to VLOOKUP or haven't used the formula in a while, the following quick reference guide is a great resource to have handy.  It's created by the folks at Microsoft, so you know it's legitimate. Reference Guide Summary The quick reference guide is in PDF format and is three pages long.  It goes into ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use VLOOKUP’s Range Lookup Feature

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The vast majority of Excel users have never used VLOOKUP's range lookup feature.  Most Excel users familiar with the VLOOKUP formula are just conditioned to know that, when they get to the range lookup option portion of the VLOOKUP syntax, they should just put in the word "FALSE" because they want an exact match.  This ... Continue Reading >>

How to Write a Nested IF Statement in Excel

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Writing a Nested IF Statement is widely considered a rite of passage for beginning Excel users who are looking to become more advanced.  The first time I used this technique was during my new employee training, right before I became a business analyst in management consulting.  The overall concept of writing a Nested IF is ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use IF ISNA to Hide VLOOKUP Errors

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When writing a series of VLOOKUP formulas, one of the annoying things is having to see the "#N/A" error after Excel has determined a lookup value is not available.  While we don't want to show any values when they are truly unavailable, from a visual design perspective, it's sometimes better just to show a blank space ... Continue Reading >>

Why You Should Be Cautious About Using Excel’s IFERROR Formula

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The IFERROR formula was designed to solve a common aesthetic problem that most of us have encountered when using Excel - when we know that there are errors in our data, but we'd prefer not to see Excel's standard error message notation.  Error messages usually consist of all caps lettering that is preceded with the "#" ... Continue Reading >>

The Ultimate Guide to VLOOKUP

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Learning the VLOOKUP formula is, for most people, the first step taken towards becoming an advanced Excel user.  For me, this milestone actually occurred in 2004 during an internship at Microsoft in the company's Commercial Operations Division.  One of the senior analysts showed me the ropes by teaching me the formula.  While Continue Reading >>

How to Use OFFSET MATCH MATCH

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OFFSET MATCH MATCH is the final lookup combination I'll cover among the lookup formula options you have available to you in Excel.  Of all the different lookup options you have to do a two-way lookup, INDEX MATCH MATCH is still probably your best bet and the approach I would generally recommend.  However, OFFSET MATCH MATCH ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use the VLOOKUP HLOOKUP Combination Formula

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VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP are two of the most popular formulas in Excel and using them together is one of the first formula combinations that people learn.  While using INDEX MATCH for vertical lookups and INDEX MATCH MATCH for matrix style lookups are superior approaches, it's still a good idea to learn this formula combination and ... Continue Reading >>

How to Use HLOOKUP

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HLOOKUP is essentially the horizontal version of VLOOKUP.  The primary reason for using HLOOKUP in Excel is for when you have key data points arranged horizontally across the top of your table.  This usually happens when you are dealing with time series data; people have a tendency to list lookup values horizontally with this type Continue Reading >>

Why INDEX MATCH is Better Than VLOOKUP

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When deciding between which vertical lookup formula to use, the majority of Excel experts agree that INDEX MATCH is a better formula than VLOOKUP.  However, many people still resort to using VLOOKUP because it’s a simpler formula.  One major driver of this problem is that most people still don’t fully understand the benefits of switching ...