How to Create a VLOOKUP

If you are a data analyst or any professional who uses Excel, you may need to create a Vlookup. So before I begin with showing you how to create a Vlookup, let’s get down to to the details of what one is.

What is a Vlookup?

Vlookup allows a user to lookup the value that exist in one column and return a value that exist in another related column. Its called Vlookup because the search direction only occurs from within the specified column in other words vertically.

What do you need to perform a Vlookup?

  1. Data πŸ™‚
  2. The lookup value;
  3. The range you want to find the value
  4. The column with the value you want to return
  5. Indicator for exact match or approximate match.

Syntax: VLOOKUP([value], [range], [column number], [false or true])

Lets take a look at the visual below below to get a better understanding of how a Vlookup would be structured. You can see each component in the image.

The return value is where you are going to write your formula. So you can can see the return value.

So the the key to making sure that this formula works perfectly is to insure that lookup range are locked so that you don’t have issues if you drag the formula downward. This can be done by adding the $ signs to row and columns in that range with F4 or manually add them.

Let see how these values map to the actual formula

  • The lookup value = 1003
  • The range you want to find the value = B6:D12
  • The column with the value you want to return = 3
  • Indicator for exact match or approximate match = 0 equals not exact match

Its very easy to map these same functions to the insert function from the top ribbon

You can enter the value parameters with the insert function