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Problem with VLOOKUP

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StarMan
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Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by StarMan »

I am currently working on an Excel course I bought on the internet lately to improve my knowledge, and one of the things I really wanted to master was VLOOKUP. No matter what video I saw on Youtube or article I read that tried to explain it, I always get a #N/A and this course I am taking is no exception, they even gave me a practice exercise and I copied the formula to the letter and yet still I get the error.

The question I have is could there be a box unchecked or something else that is preventing me from getting a value returned?.

I am working with Excel 2003 and I have the analysis toolpack, analysis VBA, conditional sum wizard and lookup wizard add-ins switched on.

I will keep plodding on for now trying to sort it but any help would be appreciated.

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rossn13
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by rossn13 »

Try entering the code and then hit CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER instead of just ENTER.

You're welcome :mrgreen:

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StarMan
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by StarMan »

I've just gave your suggestion a go in both 2003 and 2010 and still #N/A thanks for the quick reply though.

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Surprised
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by Surprised »

Does it give the error on every VLOOKUP formula?
It might be that the values you are looking up are different. ie one is text and the other is a number (as in a number is formatted as text).
Can you post a screenshot or something or give details as to what the exact formula is?

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rossn13
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by rossn13 »

StarMan wrote:I've just gave your suggestion a go in both 2003 and 2010 and still #N/A thanks for the quick reply though.
Not sure then sorry :(
Are you able to upload the file?

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StarMan
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by StarMan »

I've sorted it, but I will post the image anyway I haven't put Facebook.com in D2 I've only typed Facebook so it won't match.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by Surprised »

One of the problems with Excel is that its error messages are pretty useless.
Glad you sorted it.

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WilBert
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by WilBert »

A common mistake is that your left hand column that you're doing a lookup on has to be in some type of order e.g alphabetically.

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StarMan
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by StarMan »

Thanks for the help guys I've got the hang of it now, and some of the errors I am getting are my own doing. I'm assuming Excel can do certain things and it won't and it'll just give me an error message instead. I just tried to do a VLOOKUP of my own and got the error again, realised what I had done, and corrected it and it worked so I am learning.

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stevejtr
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by stevejtr »

once you've mastered that then there's HLOOKUP... working on columns instead of rows

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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by Surprised »

WilBert wrote:A common mistake is that your left hand column that you're doing a lookup on has to be in some type of order e.g alphabetically.

Not sure that's the case anymore. I have done countless VLOOKUP where there has been no logical order and they work fine.

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stevejtr
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by stevejtr »

I think in excel 2003 this was the case. doesn't seem to be now

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WilBert
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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by WilBert »

I really must come into the 21st century with my computer programmes.

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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by Surprised »

WilBert wrote:I really must come into the 21st century with my computer programmes.

Still with Visicalc?
http://vlookupweek.wordpress.com/tag/sp ... t-history/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

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Re: Problem with VLOOKUP

Post by Mystery »

WilBert wrote:A common mistake is that your left hand column that you're doing a lookup on has to be in some type of order e.g alphabetically.
No it doesn't if the 4th attribute of the formula is zero. Which it really should be in 99% of cases.

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