Lesson 3: VLOOKUP, find things in tables

SheetDrill Lesson 3 · VLOOKUP: find things in tables

Lesson 3

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Lesson 3 done.

You can pull a price, a name or any other detail out of a table, pick the right column, handle missing items without #N/A, and lock the table so the formula survives being copied down. That's the formula most job interviews ask about.

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What you're learning

VLOOKUP finds a value in the first column of a table and returns something from the same row: =VLOOKUP(what, table, column_number, FALSE). The column number counts from the table's first column, starting at 1. FALSE means "exact match only"; leave it out and VLOOKUP can quietly return the wrong row.

VLOOKUP only searches the first column of the table you give it, so start the table at the column you're searching. If the value isn't there you get #N/A; wrap the lookup in IFERROR(…, "Not found") to show something friendlier. Before copying the formula down, lock the table with $: $A$2:$D$6.