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Learn how to do this step by step in our Free Excel Crash Course! VLOOKUP in financial modeling and financial analysis This will help prevent errors in the VLOOKUP formula. In this case, Excel will look for the number closest to 2.9585, even if that specific number is not contained in the dataset. If we instead used “TRUE” as a parameter, we would get an approximate match.Īn approximate match would be useful when looking up an exact figure that might not be contained in the table, for example, if the number 2.9585. In our VLOOKUP example, we want an exact match (“Bananas”), so we type “FALSE” in the formula. This final step is to tell Excel if you’re looking for an exact or approximate match by entering “True” or “False” in the formula.
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In our example, the output data is located in the 3 rd column of the table, so we enter the number “3” in the formula. To do this, Excel needs a number that corresponds to the column number in the table.
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In this step, we need to tell Excel which column contains the data that we want to have as an output from the VLOOKUP. Step 4: Tell Excel what column to output the data from Excel will look for the information we told it to look up in column A. In this step, we select the table where the data is located, and tell Excel to search in the leftmost column for the information we selected in the previous step.įor example, in this case, we highlight the whole table from column A to column C. In this case, it’s the cell that contains “Bananas”. We start by typing the formula “=VLOOKUP(“ and then select the cell that contains the information we want to lookup. In this step, we tell Excel what to look for. This is one of the major drawbacks of VLOOKUP, and for this reason, it’s highly recommended to use INDEX MATCH instead of VLOOKUP. In the “bad table” example you’ll see there is an error message, as the columns are not in the right order. In the above VLOOKUP example, you will see that the “good table” can easily run the function to look up “Bananas” and return their price since Bananas are located in the leftmost column. VLOOKUP works in a left to right order, so you need to ensure that the information you want to look up is to the left of the corresponding data you want to extract. The first step to effectively using the VLOOKUP function is to make sure your data is well organized and suitable for using the function. How to use VLOOKUP in Excel Step 1: Organize the data
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