Vlookup alternative for a changing sheet

Alethea Pollack

My colleague and I have two sheets we are managing and we reference data using a vlookup formula. I am pulling in dates from her sheet and she is pulling in costs & people from my sheet. As our business needs are evolving we have both had to add columns which then breaks the vlookup formula as it references the column's position.

Any suggestions on another method to do this that will allow us to add/remove/move columns as we need?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Alethea Pollack

I hope you're well and safe!

I'd recommend using INDEX/MATCH instead.

The structure would look something like this.

=INDEX({ColumnWithTheValueYouWantToShow}, MATCH(CellThatHaveTheValueToMatch@row, 
{ColumnWithTheValueToMatchAgainsTheCell}, 0))

Depending on your country/region, you'll need to exchange the comma to a period and the semi-colon to a comma.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Andrée Starå

Hi @Alethea Pollack

I hope you're well and safe!

I'd recommend using INDEX/MATCH instead.

The structure would look something like this.

=INDEX({ColumnWithTheValueYouWantToShow}, MATCH(CellThatHaveTheValueToMatch@row, 
{ColumnWithTheValueToMatchAgainsTheCell}, 0))

Depending on your country/region, you'll need to exchange the comma to a period and the semi-colon to a comma.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Alethea Pollack

That worked perfectly. Thank you!

Andrée Starå

@Alethea Pollack

Excellent!

You're more than welcome!