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We do this to save some time and don’t waste any looking for the result of our lookup. When we use our VLOOKUP tool we often design it, so the result is very close (physically) to the lookup value in our spreadsheet. We use the lookup value to tell Excel what we’re looking for.
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The references in the VLOOKUP formula points to cells that no longer exists. Type this into Excel in cell F3 ( also shown in the screenshot right below):Ģ. I guess you’re getting the point by now? So let’s start building the formula! So our lookup value is typed into cell F2 and then used in our function. Then you write it down or do whatever you want to do with it. And there you have it! His salary! 3 inches to the right of his name. You place the tip of your finger right below his name and move your hand to the right past information like his address, phone number, and other boring stuff. You browse through the pages and find Nate Harris.In Excel terms, this is your lookup value. The piece of information you’re searching for with your eyes. You acknowledge that we’re looking for the name ‘Nate Harris’ in the phonebook.A proper phonebook may not contain that kind of information but for the sake of this example – let’s say it does. You’re looking for Nate Harris’ salary.I know phonebooks are pretty outdated by now, but let’s say that we’re using one right now. Imagine the VLOOKUP function doing the same as you when you want to look something up. When we start entering the formula in a moment, you’ll see all of these phrases inside a tooltip box below the cell you’re typing in.Īll these inputs to the VLOOKUP formula must be separated with a comma (like in most other functions).Įvery time you put a comma, the tooltip box tells you how far you are in the formula, by bolding the current part of the syntax. = Whether we want to be precise or approximate in our search.Lookup_value = What you are looking for.“Syntax is a combination of the things you need to put into a function to make it work.”Ī VLOOKUP function needs these 4 inputs to work: “Syntax” is just a big ugly word that doesn’t make much sense unless you’ve heard it before.
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Now it’s time to get into the syntax of VLOOKUP.
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