Lookup Formulas Training Series – Getting Started with VLOOKUP (1 of 3)

The Lookup Formulas Training Series Part 1:

The 5 Essentials to Getting Started with VLOOKUP

Download the file used in this video:

Getting-Started-with-VLOOKUP-Excel-Campus.zipDownload

https://www.excelcampus.com/filedownload/VLOOKUP-Essentials-Guide-Excel-Campus.pdf

Lookup Formulas Training Series

Video 1

Intro to VLOOKUP:The 5 Must Know Essentials

Video 2

Lookup Formula Errors:How to Prevent Critical Errors

Video 3

INDEX & MATCH:An Alternative to VLOOKUP

 

What Are You Going To Use VLOOKUP For?

Please leave a comment below with your answer, and any questions.  Thanks!​

1,071 comments

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  • VLOOKUP provides a quick way to “bump” one list against another when trying to determine if data from 1st list is also on the 2nd list.

    Reply

  • Hi Jon,

    Your videos are always easy to understand and makes learning different functions of excel fun. I will actually use VLOOKUP to pull non-formatted raw data from excel into another excel sheet to create a pivot table report.

    Thanks again!

    Reply

  • Hi Jon, Your videos are very interesting and very useful.I didn’t expect that this much easy to understand VLOOKUP. Thanks

    Reply

  • I use vlookup to populate inventory, and units sales for order calculation for a tire distributor. I am interested to learn how to combine different sheets of data to compare prices, between different vendors. This will help to make decisions on which product is best to buy, depending on the price. This involves a lot of separate sheets. I think pivot tables with multiple sheet in one data model may be the answer for me.

    Reply

  • Hi Jon, thank you for your wonderful video for helping me understand how VLOOKUP works. I will need to handle a reporting task on weekly basic with a lot of source data, and I think I can use VLOOKUP function to help me find out the data I need and present them on the report neatly. Looking forward to your wonderful video on teaching EXCEL skills. Thanks again.

    Reply

    • Thanks Dream! VLOOKUP is a great skill that can really help save a lot of time with reporting. I really appreciate the nice feedback too. Have a great day! 🙂

      Reply

  • i want to create a tool which will filter data according to a specific date,
    example : the person who is going to use this tool should be able to see all the activities which is to be complete by a specific date just by selecting a date.it’s not advance filtering but the problem is when we have different different activities which is to be complete in the same date under different projects, vlookup doesn’t capture that thing??? how can i do it

    Reply

    • Hi Mithila,
      Great question! A lot will depend on the layout of your source data. If you want to send me an example file I would be happy to take a look. You can just reply to one of the emails I send you. Thanks!

      Reply

      • Hi Jon,

        Thank you for your reply, I would like to send you the document which I have created but the thing is I cannot send an e mail to you, it says delivery is failed.

        Best regards,
        Mithila

        Reply

  • I will use it in my inventory control sheets to assess usage, quantity on hand etc. I will also use it in my Petty Cash Spread Sheets to total charges per expense account. This is great, thanks so much!

    Reply

  • Nice video Jon. Did you know you can also use the number 0 instead of false in the last argument of the vlookup function? Pressing down arrow and tab isn’t hard to do either, but I have been using 0 for so many years I thought I would share. Keep up the good work. Thanks.

    Reply

    • Thanks Ashton! Great suggestion and time saving tip. I usually don’t teach the zero as the last argument because it can also cause errors if you forget to put the column index number in. I see this happen a lot. If the user forgets to input the column index then the function will still work because the last argument is optional. However, it returns an error because the column index argument cannot be zero.

      Anyways, it is still a good alternative, and aligns more with the match_type argument for the MATCH funciton. Thanks again and have a good one! 🙂

      Reply

  • Awesome presentation. Makes “Vlookup” funcion look so simple.
    Its such a useful function and I hope to use this regularly now.

    Reply

  • Great video! Easy to understand and follow, Thankyou so much for sharing your knowledge on excel, I really apreciate it (:

    Reply

  • Hi Jon,

    At this time I don’t have a particular task to use vlookup for, but I want to be able to use it when the situation arises. Plus, employers sometimes do ask if I know how to use pivot tables, vlookup and macros. Thanks for the presentation.

    Keisha

    Reply

  • Hi Jon,
    Using your tutorials to enhance my Excel skills for use in my work. Although we have a Data Analyst from whom I can request reports, I want to learn more so I can create my own. I will use the vlookup function to help compare old data with new and identify discrepancies.

    I appreciate the clear instructions and simple examples!

    Yvette

    Reply

    • Thanks Yvette! I believe these are great skills to have for any Excel user. Have a great day! 🙂

      Reply

  • Thanks John for creating such useful video by simple manner and easy to understand, Great Work, Thanks once Again

    Reply

  • Hi Jon ! Thanks for such an incredible work.Iam really enjoying your tutorials so much so that I may end up as an expert! !

    Reply

  • Thanks for the video. It is very useful, easy to understand. Now i know why i got error when i use function Vlookup.
    Can’t wait for the others 2 videos.
    Thanks again.

    Reply

  • Thank you Jon…I’m new to your videos….your explanations are so easy to understand ….I look forward to watching more…

    Reply

  • Hi Jon! Great video! You sure know how to get the point across! I have used vlookup in the past to retrieve specific info for an individual, whether it be email address, office location, phone number, etc. The first mistake I made was forgetting a big rule — “look to the RIGHT!” Vlookup is very helpful, but if you have a lapse in memory regarding this rule like I tend to have from not using vlookup daily, then Jon’s other lookup formulas will help!

    Reply

    • Thanks Sandy! That is a really good point. If you don’t use it every day, then you tend to forget it. Especially VLOOKUP, there are a lot of little rules to remember. I’m happy to hear you found the video useful. You can come back and watch it any time.

      Reply

  • Hi Jon

    I use vlookup to insert data from one file into a main one. So usually looking from a unique primary key in both files to locate and match data that has come from a variety of sources. I have been using vlookup for a number of years and previously was required to use it in datasets of over 100K+ records. Your videos are a great easy to understand recap to make sure that I am doing it the most efficient way.

    Cheers

    Kirrily

    Reply

    • Thanks Kirrily! I’m happy to hear you are finding the videos useful. Hopefully you will pickup some tips and tricks to save a little time too. Thanks again!

      Reply

  • Hi Jon…Thanks for such lovely video on VLOOKUP. Daily basis, I need to copy -paste a same data for thrice daily morning for making morning report in my office. After seeing this now I could able to save around 15-20 minutes without copying those datas. Hope to see your next videos for further enhancing skills on VLOOP up.

    Reply

  • I appreciate the clear instructions and simple examples! I use vlookup for increment calculation based on grade & performance rate.

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  • I appreciate the clear tutorial with easy to understand definitions. Thanks for taking the time to create these!

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  • Thanks for explaining the reasoning behind locking the table array.. This confused me when I first started writing vlookup’s and received errors after correctly returning previous cells.

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  • needed for new job. nothing to use it with yet.
    video is very easy to understand and follow along, thanks for the training

    Reply

  • I have learn a lot and need to continue this leason on the excel vlookup ant pivot table and other aspect of excel . Please help me register to be member of the class

    Jallah T.Kekulah

    Reply

    • Hi Jallah,
      Registration for the Ultimate Lookup Formulas course will be opening up again soon. I will let you know when it is available. Thanks!

      Reply

  • The explanation was so clear.I want to use vlook to prepare report cards for students such that when you enter the subjec the marks and grade are produced automatically.Thanks A lot.

    Reply

    • Awesome! Thanks Dancan! That’s a great use for VLOOKUP, and will surely save you some time from looking them up manually. Have a good one!

      Reply

  • please tell me how can i sum multiple row in a single row
    state month ID sales (Table A)
    ——————————-
    FL June 0001 12,000
    FL June 0001 6,000
    FL June 0001 3,000
    FL July 0001 6,000
    FL July 0001 4,000
    TX January 0050 1,000
    MI April 0032 5,000
    MI April 0032 8,000
    CA April 0032 2,000
    This what I am supposed to get

    state month ID sales (Table B)
    ——————————-
    FL June 0001 21,000
    FL July 0001 10,000
    TX January 0050 1,000
    MI April 0032 13,000
    CA April 0032 2,000

    Reply

    • Hi Nemsingh,
      You can use a SUMIFS formula for that type of calculation. You can also create the report very quickly with a pivot table. Here is a link to a video series I have on getting started with pivot tables. Let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

      Reply

  • Thanks for the video’s Jon. Great way to learn more in regards to the functions of excel. The VLOOKUP formula is something that can be used in my day to day sales. I appreciate a better explanation of how this tool works.

    Reply

    • Awesome! Thanks for the great feedback Keith. I’m happy to hear you will be able to use VLOOKUP more often. Have a great day!

      Reply

  • Thanks a million Jon, really appreciate! great helpful video. Do you have any video on the sum-ifs formula.Would really appreciate if you could send me that link.

    Thanks

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    • Hi Julia,
      Great question. Right now the only videos I have on SUMIFS are in my Ultimate Lookup Formulas course. It is a comprehensive course on functions, formulas, and working with data in Excel. I will be sending you more info on the course. I will also try to write an article and publish a video on SUMIFS in the near future. It is a great function to learn. Thanks again!

      Reply

  • Excellent. Your video is informative, inspiring, revealing, thought provoking, realistic, practical and last but not least very very easy to learn and understand. Waiting very eagerly for the remaining videos.

    I am very much interested to learn VBA – MACROS, please upload in the above similar way. It solves many aspirants who are very much craving for learning VBA- MACROS.

    Wishing good luck in your new VBA- Macros.

    Reply

  • Nice video, a very detailed explanation of the vlookup function and easy to follow along, I use excel every day for many different reasons, budgeting, job costing, estimating, financial reports, inventory ext…

    Reply

  • I have two lists at work and need to compare product.. These are great videos to help me compare them. Thanks for all the informative videos. they are great

    Reply