Microsoft Excel 365 Bible

CHAPTER 15Using Formulas for Matching and Lookups

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Introducing formulas that look up values in a table
• Identifying the worksheet functions used to perform lookups
• Delving into more sophisticated lookup formulas

This chapter discusses various techniques that you can use to look up a value in a range of data. Excel has three worksheet functions (LOOKUP, VLOOKUP, and HLOOKUP) designed for this task, but you may find that these functions don't quite cut it.

In this chapter you'll explore many lookup examples, including alternative techniques that go well beyond the Excel program's normal lookup capabilities.

NOTE

This chapter focuses on the traditional lookup functions available in Excel. With Office 365, Microsoft has introduced new dynamic array functionality (along with the XLOOKUP function) designed to replace many of the lookup functions and techniques found in this chapter. You will, however, likely run into these traditional functions and techniques in many of the workbooks you'll touch. It's worth taking time to discover the workings of these functions. To explore the new dynamic array capabilities of Excel and the new XLOOKUP function, feel free to visit Chapter 10, “Understanding and Using Array Formulas.”

Introducing Lookup Formulas

A lookup formula returns a value from a table by looking up another related value. A common telephone directory (remember those?) provides a good analogy. If you want to find a person's telephone number, you ...