confused about VLOOKUP across sheets

So, I figured out the basics and I did get it working.

In Row 1, Column 2, of Sheet_A, I put in

=VLOOKUP([ID]1, {Sheet_B Range 1}, 2, false)

[ID]1 of Sheet_A is the same value as found in Sheet_B, Col 1.

I had to use "false" to get an exact match.

I repeated for additional columns and it works.

The problem is I have to copy/paste all the values of Sheet_B, Col 1 in to Sheet_A, Col 1 and this will be problematic over time as I continue to add new rows to Sheet_B.

Is there a way to just reference the Row# in Sheet_B from in the formula in Sheet_A?

*update*

Ok, so I cobbled together a workaround by adding an 'Index' column to each sheet using autogen numbers so that rows 1...200 have a value of 1..200 in the 'Index' column. I can use that to pull my 'real' unique ID that I track things by from Sheet_B.

I also have Sheet_C (another source) that uses the same unique ID as in Sheet_B (the original source). So, I can get the ID from Sheet_B, match that in Sheet_C and pull additional data from Sheet_C.

So, it looks like as long as I have unique values, it works fine. Unfortunately it's not always unique. Sometimes there are child rows with repeat values under a parent ID. That creates offsets that screw everything up.

There's also a problem where anyone looking at Sheet_A still needs view permission on Sheets_B & C. I was hoping to use this as a workaround so I could hide the source sheets because there's data in there I don't want people to see.

I guess I could hide and lock columns in the source sheets and create reports that reference the columns in Sheet A, B or C for those that need them. The whole reason we're using sheets instead of reports to try to do this is that Sheets support notifications/alerts and Reports do not.

I was going by the description of VLOOKUP and I just tested it out and discovered that (YEAH!) Sheet A users don't need to be shared Sheet B (or C) which is just perfect! Saves me a step.

Now, Sheet A users can have their own alerts/notifications as well.

As for the range including a whole column, yes, however, you're still limited to 25K cells.

If the # of whole columns X # of rows exceeds that, It rejects the reference — found out first hand.

Had to move some columns around to deal with that. Now I need to start getting people use to using a report to work with the data in the sheet instead of hitting the sheet directly.