How to Use V

1. Open Excel and open a spreadsheet that you plan to use the vlookup on. Make sure the spreadsheet has column headers and at least three columns. Each column should have at least 10 lines of varying data so you can see how vlookup works. For example, your spreadsheet could have three columns with the title of 'Employee ID number,' 'Name,' and 'Hire Date.' The first column, employee ID, should be sorted in ascending order. This is a requirement of Vlookups.
2. Review the components of a vlookup. Your vlookup will be comprised of four parts: lookup value, table array, column index number, and range lookup. The lookup value is the value that you will enter in the vlookup. Based on this value, the vlookup will give you the result from another column. For example, in this vlookup example with our current data, we will find the hire date when someone enters the lookup value of the employee ID number.The table array is the table that contains the data the vlookup will be searching for the result. In our example, we will use our three columns as our data. The column index is the column that contains the result we are looking for. In our example, if we are looking for the hire date when we enter the employee ID number, our column index refers to the third column or column C. In our formula we enter 3 to represent column C since it is the third column in the table.Lastly, in the range lookup, we indicate if we are looking for a close enough match or exact match. If it is close enough, enter TRUE. If you want an exact match, enter FALSE. In our example, we want an exact match because when we enter the employee ID number, we want to know that employee's hire date.
3. Enter your vlookup in the first cell of the fourth column. On the Formulas tab, click on the 'Lookup button.' Select 'Vlookup.' The function arguments window opens. In the Lookup Value box, enter the 'employee ID number.' In the table array, click on the red box at the end of the 'Table Array' field. Highlight your table and click on the red box again. In the column index number, enter the '3' because the hire dates are stored in the third column. Since we are looking for an exact match, enter 'FALSE' in the Range Lookup field. Click 'OK.'