Save time with this awesome tip: The V Lookup Function in Excel

This article will discuss the V Lookup function and its purpose in Excel

Summary: The V Lookup function is short for Vertical Lookup. This will cause Excel to search for a specific value in a row in order to return a value from a different row in the same column.

Scenario: Have you ever had tons of data in Excel and needed to find information quickly? V-Lookup is ideal if you have your information listed as shown in the image below.?

If your information is listed with the headers on the side (horizontally), you will want to look at our blog on H-Lookups instead.

Formula: =VLookup(Lookup Value, Table_Array, Row_Index_Num, Range_Lookup)

In this example, I want to know what the account # is for the charge based on the Vendor name. The Vendor names and Account #s are listed in a separate list on the right. This is my Table array, where Excel will find my answer.

Lookup value: This lists the cell you want to reference which states what you're looking for. (In this example, it’s B3 which lists our Vendor Name)

Table Array: This is the range where Excel will find the answer (In this example, it’s our list on the right, in columns F and G)

Row Index Number: States what row the answer is located in. (In this example, our answer is listed in column 2 of our list which is in column F and G)

Range Lookup:? This is optional and tells Excel whether you want an exact match or an approximate match. TRUE means it will find an approximate match. FALSE means it will find an exact match. If nothing is listed, Excel will default to an approximate match.

For an easy walk through of how to use an V-Lookup, check out our tutorial on YouTube.