How to use vLookup for other sheets

michaelx

Hello, 

I've been trying to use vlookup to find data from a datasheet

Sheet A contains a column 1 with "My Name".

Sheet B contains column 1 with "Name" and "Number"

I want a column in sheet A that looks for the corresponding name in sheet B and returns its number.

 

I've looked up tutorials on this but there doesn't appear to be any link between the values I enter and the return values I get. I've tried =VLOOKUP("My Name", {Sheet B col 1+2}, 1) and got a value from Sheet B column 1 that is unrelated to the value of "My Name". Changing the 1 to a 2 gets the value from column 2.

I've also tried putting "Name" and "Number" into VLOOKUP. Name returned and error and Number got a different random value.

Mike Wilday

In sheet b, does the name column come before the number column? And are those the only two columns in the sheet? 

Brian W

Did you try adding false to the end of your formula to ensure an exact match?

=VLOOKUP("My Name", {Sheet B col 1+2}, 1, false)

Mike Wilday

I would do something like this...

=Vlookup([Column Title with Name in Sheet A]@row, 

THEN click on the "Insert Refrence from another sheet" link that appears in the help card. 

Choose the reference you are wanting to choose. 

After you choose the columns you are reviewing (they should be consecutive)... the formulas should looks something like this... 

=Vlookup([Column Title with Name in Sheet A]@row, {Title of Your Cross Sheet Reference},

At this point you might need to add that trailing comma... then enter which column you want from your reference. Choose whichever column the number format is in... *note* the first column should be the name column. For this example I will use column 2. And to find an exact match for name type ", false"

=Vlookup([Column Title with Name in Sheet A]@row, {Title of Your Cross Sheet Reference}, 2, false) 

michaelx

Correct, the first column is the name column. the next column contains the numbers. There are no other columns other than attachments, comments and indicators.

michaelx

When I set the false flag it would fail to return a match. Even if the name is copy/pasted from one sheet to the other.

Mike Wilday

Does that work for you? 

michaelx

Thanks this worked the way I'd hoped. All the guides I found said to use "" instead of []

Adding the false flag was also necessary but I needed the right syntax before it could find anything.

Mike Wilday

Cool. Glad you got it working. 

 

yu7XwNZ4g4IXQOKwReHm

Can someone provide an example on how to format a vlookup function using an outside sheet?