Column Number Function

Hi,

Interesting question! I'd suggest you get used to using INDEX & MATCH instead of VLOOKUP as it is much more powerful and gives you greater control of your data. It also eliminates the silly need VLOOKUP has for you to define a column number to return. INDEX looks anywhere you tell it, including columns to the left of the data you are matching.

Consider the VLOOKUP formula:

=VLOOKUP(search_value, lookup_table,column_num, [match_type])

against the corresponding INDEX/MATCH formula:

=INDEX([range of return values], MATCH(search_value, lookup_table, [match_type]))

They are similar, but INDEX just finds the value you're asking it to as you're essentially giving Smartsheet coordinates to find a value. This eliminates the fuss of specifics (that may be changed by users). The key differences are:

1. The [range of return values can be anywhere on any sheet, of any size and even include multiple columns
2. The data you're returning does not have to be to the right of your VLOOKUP search value and is not specified by it's column position. This means if someone changes a column name or position in the sheet you're referring to it doesn't matter, so we eliminate your original issue.
3. INDEX/MATCH is inherently faster than VLOOKUP for large datasets as it is in essence doing less work (it's not including redundant columns to lookup and return values from only 2 columns)

Unfortunately Smartsheet does not allow you to access the column names, so you're somewhat stuck if you want to find a column position using that criteria.

Hi Chris

We need this functionality. When doing a lookup or index match to another sheet, we need to dynamically reference a column.

=VLOOKUP(search_value, MATCH({Column Name, lookup_table, [match_type]), [match_type])

Is there any plan to provide this functionality?

I am wanting to do something similar with INDEX MATCH. I need to use MATCH to return the row number and the column number.

I can get it to return the row number, but I'm having trouble with the second MATCH to return the column number.

Since Smartsheet doesn't have the ability to reference column headers, I've duplicated the headers on ROW 1 of the source/referenced sheet.

=INDEX({Addresses}, MATCH([Mailing Instructions]@row, {MailingInstructions}, 0), MATCH("Address Line 1", {FedEx Address List Range 2}, 0))

Unfortunately, I'm getting the #INVALID VALUE error.

I know when I use this formula in Excel, I have to press CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER. Otherwise I get the #VALUE! error in Excel. Is there an equivalent step in Smartsheet to get this formula to work?