Skip to content
  • Try Smartsheet

    • Formulas and Functions

    Formulas and Functions

    Ask for help with your formula and find examples of how others use formulas and functions to solve a similar problem.

    VLOOKUP formula pulling data from another sheet

    ✭✭✭
    in Formulas and Functions

    I'm using the VLOOKUP Formula to match the "Application" in table 1 to "Application Name" in table 2, then return the "Primary Product Family" from Table 2, Column 2 to "Program" in Table 1 where the formula is.

    =VLOOKUP(Application@row, {Applications}, 2, false)

    What I'm I doing wrong?

    image.png
    Tags:
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

    Sign in
    Try Smartsheet

    Answers

    • ✭✭✭✭✭

      Vlookup sometimes has very odd problems - here is another example.

      VLOOKUP #NoMatch has me completely stumped

      Liz Castellaw

      Looking at what you've got, it seems like the problems only happen when your application name doesn't start with a 0. Given that Smartsheet tries to automatically differentiate between a numeric value and a text value, and given that a leading 0 makes it 100% certain it is treating it as text, I'm betting the problem lies it it considering one of the two application numbers to be a numeric value and the other to be text.

      If that is the case, making a helper column in each sheet that was "="app" + application@row" or "="app" + [application name]@row" and then using your formula on those helper columns instead would force it to treat everything as text and might solve the issue.

      Also - just a suggestion - index(match()) tends to have fewer issues than Vlookup.

      · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
    • ✭✭✭✭✭

      Hey @jwilson,

      Have you tried using INDEX/COLLECT in the Program colum? That seems to work for me:

      =INDEX(COLLECT({Product Family Column}, {Application Name Column}, Application@row), 1)

      Hope this helps!

      If my response was helpful in any way (or answered your question) please be sure to upvote it, mark it as awesome, or mark it as the accepted answer!

      I'm always looking to connect with other industry professionals, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn as well!

      · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
    • ✭✭✭

      Thank you for your answer. So if I was going to use INDEX(MATCH()), how would I write the formula?

      · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
    • ✭✭✭

      @Jgorsich I created a helper column in both sheets and it worked. Thank you for your help

      · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

    Sign in
    Try Smartsheet

    Help Article Resources

    Create and edit formulas in Smartsheet

    Formula combinations for cross sheet references

    Smartsheet functions list

    Quick Links

    Categories

    Want to practice working with formulas directly in Smartsheet?

    Check out the Formula Handbook template!

    Trending in Formulas and Functions