CFI-Excel-eBook

The Corporate Finance Institute Excel
Things to remember about the VLOOKUP Function
Here is an important list of things to remember about the Excel VLOOKUP
Function:
1. When range_lookup is omitted, the VLOOKUP function will allow a nonexact
match, but it will use an exact match if one exists.
2. The biggest limitation of the function is that it always looks right. It will get
data from the columns to the right of the first column in the table.
3. If the lookup column contains duplicate values, VLOOKUP will match the
first value only.
4. The function is not case-sensitive.
5. Suppose there’s an existing VLOOKUP formula in a worksheet. In that
scenario, formulas may break if we insert a column in the table. This is so
as hard-coded column index values don’t change automatically when
columns are inserted or deleted.
6. VLOOKUP allows the use of wildcards, i.e., an asterisk (*) and a question
mark (?).
7. Suppose the table we are working with the function contains numbers
entered as text. If we are simply retrieving numbers as text from a column
in a table, it doesn’t matter. But if the first column of the table contains
numbers entered as text, we will get an #N/A! error if the lookup value is
not also in text form.
8. #N/A! error – Occurs if the VLOOKUP function fails to find a match to the
supplied lookup_value.
9. #REF! error – Occurs if either:
• The col_index_num argument is greater than the number of
columns in the supplied table_array; or
• The formula attempted to reference cells that do not exist.
10. #VALUE! error – Occurs if either:
• The col_index_num argument is less than 1 or is not recognized as
a numeric value; or
• The range_lookup argument is not recognized as one of the logical
values TRUE or FALSE.
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