The Lookup Formulas Training Series Part 1:
The 5 Essentials to Getting Started with VLOOKUP
Download the file used in this video:
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!
Thanks Jon! I am going to make a dashboard for my multi tab spreadsheet so that I can quickly answer questions without having to rifle through all of the tabs.
Sweet! That will save some time. Thanks Jim!
Hi Jon,
Thank you so much for your videos! They are so helpful and interesting. They make Excel look easy and fun. I am looking forward to watching all of them and learning all that I can. Thanks again!
Woohoo! I’m happy to hear the videos make Excel look easy and fun. I’m glad I’m not the only one that thinks Excel is fun! LOL Have a great day Antoaneta! 🙂
I’ll be generating a page that I’d like to document employee attendance, whether they call in, take a vacation day, leave part of the day, come in late, etc. I’m hoping this will be something I can get put together and use this feature (and others) in. Thanks!
Yes, the lookup formulas can definitely help with summary reports like that. Thanks Jean!
I am so thankful that I found your videos. They are very helpful, informative and interesting! I have passed along your website to my teammates to help them on their excel journey too!
Thank you so much Christine! I really appreciate the nice comment, and thanks for sharing the videos. That helps me out. Have a great day! 🙂
I am using vlookup with my multi Dashboard
Thanks :).
Great job Jon, I do like your videos and teaching method, wish you all the best
Thanks Muhanad!
Good video. Thank you. I’m going to use vlookup for inventory and item control and purchasing. Do you have any other examples I can use or practice questions?
Hi Amanda,
Here is another article I have on VLOOKUP. It contains a file download and links to some other examples. I hope that helps.
Thanks again!
Hi
How do you widen or narrow a highlighted column using the keyboard?
I do not mean autofit. I would like to make it as wide or narrow as much as I like.
Thank you!
You can use keyboard shortcuts to open the Row Height or Column Width window, then type the height or width. The shortcuts are Alt,O,R,E is the shortcut for row height and Alt,O,C,W is the shortcut for column width. Here is an article on keyboard shortcuts for rows and columns that explains more. I hope that helps.
Thanks!
This is quite a clear explanation of VLookup table and very useful tips too. I am using VLookup tables for sorting data at work. Thank you Jon
Awesome! Thanks Philip!
Hi Jon,
Hope you doing great,
I have some query on filter short cut in excel, when i work with excel sometime filter button is not visible(the function could not be functioned) , could please help us why it is being happened , even i searched in the internet also not found any solutions for this. could you please help us.
Regards,
Srinivasa
Bangalore
India
just learn how to use v lookup when am using excel
Nice video to understand the basics of VLOOKUP function. It is very useful function in MS-Excel.
Thanks
Excellent explanation !
Please help me in Relational Pivoting and Dashboard Reporting where values will be auto update as per change in source data.
To find selected data in a table
I want to use vlookup do conduct a party and to plan a budget
Just watched the vlookup video. I am looking forward to video # 2 Keep up the great work
Awesome! Thanks Joe! 🙂
I just finished watching video num 1 on the vlookup formula I would say it’s a great one congratulations.
I just start learning how to create a spreadsheet for doing stock analysis. Would appreciate any advice you can give me?
Thanks Edwin
Hi Edwin,
I don’t have any specific articles on stock analysis, but I think you will find the lookup formulas very useful when working with multiple data sets. I would also recommend learning pivot tables. I have another video series on pivot tables and dashboards as well.
Good instructional video.
Cannot get to the follow on videos?
Thanks Ross! I’m not sure I understand your question.
How do I use vlookup to add up various rows in a table array and return the sum of the values?
Hi VI,
You will probably want to use a SUMIF or SUMIFS formula for that.
so useful! Thank you!
Thanks Naomi! 🙂
Good session, trying to learn how to lookup entire range from another worksheet.
Thanks Rich! You can specify the range from the other worksheet for the table_array by selecting the other worksheet, then selecting the range in that worksheet. I hope that helps. Have a good one! 🙂
Hey Jon – Thanks a lot for the Videos. These Simple steps makes Excel look interesting and surely creates the urge to learn something more. Will follow you closely to learn more.
Thanks a lot. You’re doing really good job.
Thanks Niranjan! I appreciate the nice feedback and happy to hear you are learning Excel. 🙂
During the construction bidding process we are always tasked with getting information from our estimate into the owners bid form. The VLookup works well for this. thanks for the informative video!
Thanks Chris!
Thanks Jon, the videos are great. I am going up for a job as a database specialist and I need to freshen up on my Excel skills.
Thanks Nelson! Good luck with the job interviews! 🙂
do you have a video on the drop down on excel and how to make the arrow visible?
thanks. reynaldo
Hi Reynaldo,
I do have an article on keeping the drop-down arrow always visible. I hope that helps. Thanks!
Hey Jon,
Awesome videos, very helpful. Will definitely boost my productivity. Thanks
Thanks Abhinav! I am excited to hear that this will boost your productivity. That is awesome! 🙂
Thanks Jon,
with the food menu example I can now understand how VLookup works but i am not sure how it can be used to look for two items and compare the returned result. as in your coffee menu,suppose you look for two types of coffee and out of the two expected returned result the main question asked is to tell which one is more expensive!
Any idea?
I was laid off from Verizon Wireless last year in February, I am using this to enhance my excels skills after being off a year. I recently went on an interview and forgot the simple methods only if I had watched your video I would have landed the job. This will help me get me back in the job market.
I also told my daughters about this site.
Thank You!
Hi Jo Ann,
Sorry to hear you got laid off. That is never fun. But I am happy to hear that you are using this time to improve your Excel skills. It is definitely something a lot of employers are looking for, and these skills will put you in higher demand. Thanks for sharing the site as well. I really appreciate your support! Best of luck to you with the job search. 🙂
Hi Jon,
Am going back to work again after 4 months break from my last assignment. The next short-term contract I will be taking up effective June 1 will be a Planning Analyst position. I will be coordinating/processing/consolidating the overall company’s 2016 annual budget and knowing how to use VLOOKUP and PIVOT Table will definitely be of utmost benefit to me. I have been combing the internet for tutorials and stumble on Excel Campus. Your tutorial is so informative and easy to follow and I wish to thank you very much for that. I am also very keen to learn Power Query For BI & Excel, of which I do not have any knowledge of, and wonder where can I obtain free lessons.
Hi Frank,
Thanks for the great feedback! I’m glad you found me. 🙂 These are all great Excel skills to learn that will really help put you in high demand with employers.
I do have a free bonus module on Power Query and Power Pivot in my Ultimate Lookup Formulas course. This is not a free course, but very comprehensive training on all the lookup formulas and alternative tools like pivot tables, Power Query, and Power Pivot. I will be sending more info on the course in the coming weeks.
Thanks again and best of luck with your new job assignment!
Jon THANKS!!
Thank you Marcella! 🙂
I will use vlookup formulas for work, I work with large data from different sheets, I will use it to find data from different sheets and workbooks
Awesome! Thanks Kedibone!
return values for project element variance calculations
Amazing! I’m planning to use the vlookup formula on our inspection report register and report logs!
thanks a lot!
Marlon
Awesome! Thanks Marlon! 🙂
Work
Hey Jon, Very well made excel tutorial. I have been using pivots and vlookup extensively at work for last few years, but never noticed the row – col number indicators which u mentioned in one of the tips in this video. thats going to save a lot more time. I am really looking fwd for the Index and match which I have never used before.
I have started using slicers in the reports that I generate and share after watching ur Pivot video. I have got amazing responses from the users of my report. Thank you.
Hi Kalpana,
Thank you so much for the great feedback! I am so happy to hear that you are putting these skills to good use, and getting great response from your users. That is awesome!
Thanks again and have a great day! 🙂
Hi Jon; Thanks for the video, it was very helpful. But can you please use large and complicated data set in the tutorial? so as to give a real scenarios.
Thanks for the suggestion Abdul!
Excellent video!
I will use the lookup for the different matrices that I need to prepare as a part of project management.
I am a 2 year accountant, and often work with different worksheets and different workbooks on servers. Sometimes there is a delay , which is really just ping time because I’m in the NE and our servers are in the NorthWest US. This occurs much more in Access due to the automatic saving every time you change a cell, sometimes it just takes a second or two to wake up and respond I guess that it’s ok to go on.
I think I could use Excel a lot more to do the same things access does. They always say the true power of Access is in it’s relational table abilities with queries and reports and forms, etc… but actually there is most things that CAN be done in Excel, and Excel is way more widely known and used, people don’t feel comfortable with Access, at least not the mediocre or self taught maybe took a course or two large degree of people who also use and look at my answers based on the info in the tables. Also, I like the fact that I can always import a workbook or sheet into access should I need to use it’s relational table functions, but it rarely gets that advanced like creating subforms, and crazy reports, most management can navigate through excel (If I use comments and spoon feed them through it directly on the sheet or workbook.
Great ideas. I will have a lot of things, as I can also take tables from Access and make into Excel sheets to test it out.
Looking forward. Wes
Awesome! Thanks Wes!
You might also want to look at Power Query for pulling your Access data into Excel. It is a great tool for that. You can also create those relationships in Excel with Power Pivot. I have an entire module dedicated to this topic on how to use Power Query and Power Pivot in place of lookup formulas in my Ultimate Lookup Formulas course. I’ll be sharing more about that soon. Thanks again!
HI JON,
THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS USE FULL CONTENT AND VIDEOS.
Hi Jon,
I work with a lot of data in excel and often times spend hours in trying to manipulate the data with limited knowledge of how to use the V-Look up function.
This video is going to help me tremendously with sorting and analyzing data.
Great video! Anxious to watch the rest of the series.
Jon, Your tutorials and videos are very helpful and engaging, so thank you! I’ll be working on sales analytics but we’ve only started to consider which Excel reports we’ll be using.
I have one question about that $2.50 Caffe Mocha in C9. How can you identify that $3.95 is the correct price if there’s another, lower priced one below? You explained that VLOOKUPs review top to bottom and to the right but you didn’t touch on when other data show varying results.
Hi Dolly,
Great question! The VLOOKUP will stop at the first match. We would need to use another formula to determine the 2nd, 3rd match, etc. It’s just good to know that this is how vlookup works. Once it finds a match, it stops.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
Dear Jon,
Thanks a lot the useful info
Very good tutorial! very clear!
I am using vlookup tp find sales of various clients in a table.
best regards
Joachim
Thanks Joachim!
Great video. Well explained.
Question – Will the Lookup function work if the lookup value is over two columns instead of one?
Secondly, what about the second, third and further values in the list not identified by the function first. Will this be taken into account.
Hi Dan,
Yes, the lookup value can be anywhere on the sheet, or even another sheet. You just need to reference it in the first argument of the VLOOKUP function.
All of the columns that you potentially want to return need to be included in the Table_Array argument. For example, if the Table_Array is B5:D10, this range is 3 columns wide. If you were to put a 4 for the col_index_num then the VLOOKUP would return an error.
I hope that helps. Thanks!
Thanks a lot Jon!! That was really helpful. You make excel seem like a child’s play.. What about the video # 2 and Video # 3? Have they been released?
Jon,
Going to use VLOOKUP to reference employee sales data from another sheet to pull to a main reporting tab. Thanks for the video de-mystifying the VLOOKUP for me!
Awesome! Thanks Jayson! 🙂
hi,
i am learning excel and interested to learn lookup and pivot table and more which helps in analysis of data so please can you guide me or help me how can i do.
Thanks Jon! Great job!